Apocalyse
by DaqandAsh
Summary: It came with almost no warning. The apocalypse. How will the survivors from Degrassi overcome the darkness that reigns over the world? With a little help from The Powers that Be.
1. Prologue

It came almost without warning. 

If it had not been for the prophetic dreams of Maliyah Arnaud, an 87- year-old blind woman from Toronto who was rumored to have "the sight", and her small but devoted group of followers, the world may have been lost completely. Though they tried to spread the word—in public squares, over the internet, anywhere they could--there were few that would listen. And fewer still that worked to try and counteract it. There was nothing that could be done to stop the apocalypse from coming. This very night, the four moons of the Sun would align with the moon of the Earth and an evil unlike any the world had faced would be unleashed upon the unsuspecting world.

Maliyah's grandson asked when he heard his grandmother's words of warning, "Is there nothing that can be done? Is there no way to stop it?" Coming from anyone else, he would not have believed at all, but he knew that his nana had a way of knowing things.

"I'm afraid not, my child. We cannot control the stars or the moons. It will come. But we will do all we can to ensure that the evil not be unopposed. I have foreseen that around the world, the circles will unite and pray for salvation. It will not be enough to stop the reign of evil from emerging, but will instead create a force of good that will work to salvage the Earth and restore balance."

"A force, Nana? What do you mean?"

"I'm afraid I don't know exactly," Maliyah admitted. Her visions this time had been unusually unclear. All she could sense was that throughout the world trying times lay ahead. Many would not survive this night, and there would be months, if not years, of hardship and evil to overcome. Through it all, she knew, it would be the children that led the way out of the darkness. And that was why she insisted that her grandson go ahead with his evening as planned. "It is not for you to worry, this night," she told him. "I would not have told you at all, but I did not want you to be unprepared, caro mia."

"How can I not worry, Nana? You have told me that the world is ending?"

"Oh, no, caro mia. Not ending. It is a new beginning. I sense that you must be at this dance. You and your friends…you will be part of this force. You must be with them this night."

And so an hour later he was. Among his friends at Degrassi's Homecoming Dance, onstage, about to announce this year's King and Queen. It all seemed quite moot, but he knew this was what his Nana expected him to do.

Marco Del Rossi stood at the edge of the stage, watching his boyfriend, Dylan Michalchuk. He tried to smile, but it was difficult. He wasn't sure exactly why he had come other than his Nana told him he needed to be there. It seemed so pointless.

On the other hand, if she was right and it was the end of the world (or the beginning as Nana put it) then there were only a few people that he would want to spend it with, and they were almost all in this room. He'd have the chance to dance with Dylan one last time; perhaps during the King and Queen spotlight dance, which he was sure Jimmy Brooks and Paige Michalchuk would be sharing.

From the stage, Marco noticed his best friend Ellie Nash walk in with her boyfriend, Sean Cameron. He was a little surprised to see that she actually came, but was glad to see her. Maybe he'd try to get dance with her, too.

He glanced over at Principal Raditch, impatient to just get the announcement of the King and Queen over with so he could leave the stage. But Raditch hadn't yet given him the envelope containing the voting results. And it didn't look like the man was in any rush to do so.

Jessica Rivers had entered the dance not long ago, but she felt uneasy. She wasn't sure whether it was because she knew that those chosen for Homecoming King and Queen would use it against her, or if it was just butterflies. Jesse stood in front of the stage. The stars had shown brightly when she entered, and now they must have been brighter, for it was getting late.

Jesse looked up to Marco Del Rossi, class president. He was going to announce the prom King and Queen soon, poor boy. Jesse had heard that this boy was gay, but she didn't believe everything she heard. Jesse mindlessly twiddled her fingers, distracting herself from the unease.

Ellie Nash walked into the dance with Sean. She knew that Jay Hogart and Alex were planning something, though she didn't know what, and Sean wouldn't tell her. I quickly scanned her eyes over the immense conglomerate of demoniac teenagers, letting her eyes fall to rest on Craig Manning.

She felt guilty for finding him attractive. It wasn't like she'd ever go there. She had a boyfriend she adored and there was no way she would ever betray Ash. She watches Craig talking to Ashley Kerwin, no doubt trying to apologize again for the year before. Ellie couldn't believe that he would cheat on Ash with Manny. "Jerk," she thought bitterly. She had every reason to hate him--he cheated on her best friend...and another reason. A reason she couldn't even think about. It wasn't fair to Sean or Ash.

She shouldn't have even come to the stupid dance anyway. But Sean said that it was important. She couldn't help but wonder what could possibly be important enough to come to a dance just to watch Paige Michalchuk get crowned Queen of the Ice Fairies yet again. A title that suited her quite nicely, Ellie figured.

She turned to Sean. "Can we go now or do we really need to stay for the after party?" she asked sarcastically as she eyed Jay and Alex making out in the corner. Was that even allowed?

Sean's attention snapped back to Ellie when she spoke. He had to make sure that the plan ran smoothly. Nothing could go wrong. "Ellie, just hold on. As soon as I'm done, we can go. Okay?" He noticed her sign of resignation and turned his attention back to the stage to wait.

Ellie sighed and looked around for her friends. She saw Marco waving to her from the stage. She waved back, trying not to let Sean see how much she hated being there. She was trying to be the supportive girlfriend, but she couldn't help feeling that if being supportive meant letting Jay do something to sabotage the crowning, she would rather have nothing to do with it.

Sean kept staring ahead, as if he was waiting for something big to happen. Ellie looked back over at Jay and Alex and noticed that they actually looking happy for a change. Okay, this was definitely going to be big.

Come on just bring the results already, Ellie thought impatiently. "It isn't like we don't already know that the ice queen won anyway," she thought bitterly.

"This is going to be perfect," Alex thought mischeviously. As soon as the results were announced, they would put their plan into action. All thanks to her amazing boyfriend. She looked at Jay and her smile widened. There was absolutely nothing that could ruin what they had planned. Except maybe--"Yo, Sean...your girlfriend seems a little nervous," she whispered. "You didn't tell her anything, did you?"

"No, of course not. Why would I tell her anything?" Sean replied.

"Who know. She is your girlfriend," Jay countered, never taking his eyes off of Alex.

Marco looked over at Principal Raditch again, hoping that he'd just get on with this. "We all know who the King and Queen are going to be. I could announce it now without even having seen the contents of the envelope he's holding," he grumbled internally. Not that it mattered anyway, all things considered. But it would be nice to give Paige and Jimmy a nice memory to hold on to, and Marco really wanted to go spend what time he could with Dylan.

He sighed and looked over to Dylan, who gave him a look of sympathy. Which meant he clearly wasn't looking as happy as he was supposed to look. It was a dance, he was supposed to be cheerful. He wished his Nana hadn't told him anything so he could enjoy the night like everyone else. They'd fixed up the gym amazingly, but he found no joy even in that.

Growing further impatient, Marco began to wonder if maybe they were just waiting to make sure that Paige and Jimmy were both present. He scanned the crowd and saw all of his friends among the Homecoming Dance guests. Including Jimmy and Paige. So he turned back to Raditch yet again and gave him a look begging him to just get on with it. Fortunately this time, Raditch got the idea and crossed the stage to hand the envelope to Marco.

"Attention Degrassi!" He called into the microphone.

Was it his imagination or did the whole gym just shake slightly? Maybe it was just because everyone in the gym all turned at once toward the stage. His imagination, then. Right? Right.

"It's time to announce this year's King and Queen!" He looked back over his shoulder to make sure that Manny Santos was ready to proceed. She smiled and nodded, holding up the King crown and scepter.

Marco tore open the envelope. "This year's king is..." He looked down at the results and swear this time that the gym was shaking again. Or possibly it was just him being extremely surprised by the results. "Um...Marco Del Rossi!" He felt really stupid calling out his own name but quickly tried to cover it up by joking, "I swear I didn't rig the vote!"

Ellie looked up in surprise. She hadn't just heard that. Marco won Homecoming King? She probably shouldn't be so surprised, she realized. It wasn't like he was unpopular by any means. And he was class president and all. She turned to Sean and Jay and was amused to see their reactions. This had clearly caught them off-guard as well. Hopefully this would interfere with their plan somehow.

"Go Marco!" Spinner Mason called out and whistled, getting several glares from those around him. He turned to Paige and grinned. She was so going to win, and he knew he didn't have to worry at all about her dancing with Marco. Score. Now He wouldn't get in trouble over getting jealous. "Good luck, Honey Bear." Silently he added, "Like there's even any question?"

"Like there's even any question?" Paige thought to herself. She tried to look nervous, though, as she looked over at her main competition (if she could even call it that) Hazel Aden, and Ashley Kerwin. Like anyone in their right minds would actually vote for Alex. Or Ellie Nash? Please! Aside from Sean and maybe Marco, nobody would vote for the vampire.

"Um...thanks, Spin," Marco acknowledged the catcall, slightly embarrassed. He waited for Manny to place the crown on his head and hand him the Scepter. He was still quite astounded that it was him being crowned. Jimmy was so much more popular.

The queen, however, came as no surprise to him or anyone else in the room. "This year's queen is none other than..." Marco paused for dramatic effect, even though he knew that nobody would be shocked by the revelation, "Paige Michalchuk! Come on up here, Paige!"

Paige let out a 'surprised' squeal and quickly hugged Spinner. Then she turned to Hazel and Ashley and gave them each a consolation hug to show them that she cared and was a gracious winner. She hurried up to the stage, pausing to make a show of hugging her brother Dylan as she passed him. She loved hearing him congratulate her. She'd never tire of hearing those words.

And then she was on stage, next to Marco, where she gave another excited little squeal and hugged him tight. She was so happy for herself! And Marco would be a perfect person to be shown in the yearbook next to. She had nothing against Spinner, of course, but he always but always had some goofy smile on his face when he posed for pictures.

Paige glanced back and Manny and gave her a look that said "Come adorn me!" Then with her smile pasted firmly in place she looked back to the crowd and blew a kiss. "Thank you all so much!"

"Congratulations, Paige," Marco murmured, hugging her back. He stepped back as Manny came forward, placing the crown on Paige's head and handing her a bouquet of roses.

He stayed back, letting Paige bask in the glory of her win. She looked so happy. He wished things could stay exactly how they were at that moment. He looked over at Dylan, wishing, too, that he could go be with his boyfriend. But Raditch was back at the microphone and was announcing the King and Queen Spotlight Dance.

Marco sighed and moved to dance with Paige as the gym went dark, only a spotlight glowing upon the pair on the stage. All eyes were on them. Which made Marco all the more nervous. He felt a little unsteady on his feet, even. It seemed like the gym was shaking.

Actually, this time, he was sure that it was.

Marco saw Raditch coming toward the microphone. "People remain calm!" he called out. "It seems we're having an...earthquake! Please try to remain calm. Do not go outside or into the hallway. You need to stay away from windows. It would be best if you got under a table and cover your head!" Marco listened to the principal shouting directions.

And then suddenly the stage was collapsing under Marco's feet. He grabbed onto Paige's arm and start trying to get them safely off the stage. "Dylan!" he called out, trying to get them to his boyfriend, who still stood at the edge of the stage.

When the room started shaking, Ellie grabbed onto Sean, who seemed just as confused as she was. He looked really worried. At first she thought it was because of their safety, but when he looked at Jay, suddenly she knew that it was because of their 'plan'. Disgusted, she let go of his arm and turned away from him.

"Ellie, come back!" he called, but she kept walking, ignoring his shouts.

Ellie's eyes widened as she realized that the stage was starting to collapse. "Marco!" She started to run toward the stage as fast as she could, wanting to help him. It was only then that she noticed that parts of the ceiling were starting to fall down around her. She heard students screaming as they ran for the door. Bad idea.

She tried to block the debris from hitting her, but could feel small bits hitting her exposed shoulders roughly. She heard someone call out for her to move, but she didn't comprehend it in time. She felt a sudden dull pain against the top of her head, and everything went black.

As the ground started to shake, Jesse knew that it was bad. Canada wasn't as known for earthquakes as the United States were. Especially not in Toronto. She fell to the ground as the shaking got stronger. Debris from the walls and ceiling hit her exposed back and shoulders, digging into and cutting her skin.

She began to pray as the shaking continued. She didn't know why, but she did it anyway. She'd grown up with any religion, yet there she was, praying for her life, asking God to forgive her of her sins. Asking God to save her life.

She didn't understand it, but somehow, as she prayed, she felt safe. Like somehow she knew she was going to make it. She was going to live. As she opened her eyes and stood up, she saw a few people, lying unconscious. One of them she remembered from her Science class. She ran over to the fallen girl and tried to help her.

Jesse heard a loud cracking noise and looked up to see a massive chunk of the rooftop getting ready to fall. Just as it began to plummet, she grabbed her classmate and pulled her to safety. Ellie, she remembered the girls name. Ellie Nash. Jesse started to pray again. This time for Ellie's life, for her redemption. Jesse felt weak as if she were about to lose her own life while saving Ellie's. But suddenly she felt a sudden burst of energy. Like there was some sort of energy needing herself and Ellie to live. She was able to drag Ellie's unconscious body under a table to try and get a little breather while she figured out what to do. She held Ellie's head in her arms and tried to wake her. "Ellie. Ellie!"

Ellie heard someone calling her name, but it sounded so far away. She winced as she opened her eyes. She struggled to find her voice. "Um....what happened?"

Marco heard Ellie's voice calling his name. He turned to try and find her and saw her going down hard. He let out a started wince and pushed Paige gently toward where Dylan awaited them. "Go! Find cover!" he yelled to them as he turned to go toward Ellie.

Before he could get there, he could see another girl grab his friend and drag her to safety. He was torn, then, whether to go back to Dylan or to continue forward to help Ellie.

The choice was taken from him a moment later as what sounded like an explosion boomed behind him and he was thrown from the stage. He landed painfully on a table a few yards away. It collapsed from the impact and for a few moments, Marco couldn't breathe, the wind knocked out of him.

He rolled onto his back and looked back to the stage, his eyes widening as he saw several beasts emerging from a fiery hole that had opened from beneath the stage. He really hoped he'd hit his head and was hallucinating.

Maliyah could feel the earth begin to quake and knew that the time had come. The apocalypse was upon the earth. She took the hands of those in her circle and began praying for the Earth's salvation. Around the world, she could sense, there were similar groups doing the same, but then all feeling began to fade and she felt her life force draining. She and her circle, she realized, would likely not live this night. But through their sacrifice the world would receive a chance to survive the apocalypse and one day overcome the darkness that was taking over.

She had a vision of her grandson. He was staring into the eyes of death itself. "Mia caro," she whispered, momentarily breaking her concentration. In that moment she could feel the darkness seeping into her and it took all her remaining strength to force it out. She could feel herself weakening, and could feel the darkness trying to possess her. It wanted her sight, she sensed. She could not allow that to happen. So with what she sensed to be her final moments, she changed her prayer, calling upon the powers that be to remove from her the sight so that it would not be stolen and used for destruction, but divert it instead to someone who would use it for good. She did not dare send it to her grandson--though she prayed her vision was wrong, if he was to die this night, the darkness would still absorb the sight. She did pray, however, that the person who received her gift would use it well, and perhaps would be able to save her grandson as well.

She could sense others in her circle as well as around the world changing their prayers to ones similar to her own. And she knew that was going to be the path to salvation. She knew the moment the sight vanished, as she could no longer detect the prayers of the others in her circle, nor from around the world. She knew not what was coming, but could feel a coldness enveloping her. There was a loud sound of wood splintering and she knew that the beasts were almost upon the circle. She prayed that their work had been enough.

Like what you read? Want to participate in continuing it? Join the Role Playing Game by going to yahoogroups and joining the list called degrassi underscore enchanted (the link is in our ffnet profile since it won't let us post here grrr). Many characters are still available. There is an application, and we will be fairly picky about who joins (so please don't feel offended if you are not picked the first time. If you're not, we'll let you know why and you're always free to apply again!) The rating for this game is R and there will be violent scenes as well as possible sexual situations, so do not join if you can't handle that. The game will be converted into a fanfic and posted here, so please don't join if it will bother you that you won't get direct credit for specific things you write and there may be minor changes to things you post when it's converted to fanfic (I'll post a list of authors with the fic, so you will be credited that way.) The following people contributed to this section: Chaos (Marco, Dylan, extra roles as needed), Serenity (Alex, Ellie, other roles as needed), Tiffany (Jesse), Azaria (Paige), and Daq (Spinner)


	2. Homecoming

Free at last, the Vampire Queen climbed from the apocalyptic fire, and stood among the chaos. Destruction everywhere, she could feel it. The world was theirs for the taking. She laughed as she heard the human screams and bodies falling as the world crumbled around them.

So many bodies, so little time. Besides, she wanted something a little more _fun_. She noticed five live humans near the stage she stood upon and smiled, her mouth watering. They all seemed quite in shock by what they were seeing. And why wouldn't they? There were things here that they'd never seen even in their worst nightmares. Beasts with horns, beasts with glowing red eyes and jaws of destruction, and her own minions, all crawling from the depths, ready to feed.

Two of the humans stood on one side, three on the other. One of the two appeared to be the human queen--a crown upon her head. Though that made it tempting, the Vampire Queen decided she should feed first, to gain her strength before going up against the human queen. Besides, three morsels was better than two. So she turned to the three--two boys and a girl, and strolled toward them casually, ready to leap should they try to flee. She enjoyed the fearful looks upon their faces. But which one to start with? The boy inexplicably wearing a baseball cap despite the semi-dressy clothing? Nice, but no. His fright was quite apparent, but She wanted something more challenging. Perhaps the other boy, then. No, she decided as she noticed the girl. The dark-haired girl looked afraid, yes, but more intriguing, she looked defiant. A challenge.

"Okay, so this was definitely not part of the plan," Alex mumbled, turning to Jay, who was backing away. "Jay, what the hell are you doing?" she asked, incredulous. He looked frightened and his eyes told her exactly what he was thinking as he noticed the creature's attention focusing on her. He was ditching her. She couldn't believe this! Some boyfriend.

Alex turned her frightened, angry eyes back to the creature standing before her. "What the hell do you want?" she challenged forcefully. "You think that you can scare me?" Okay, so she was a little scared, but there was no way she would ever admit that in a gym full of people that she had to see every day. It briefly struck her that she might not see any of them ever again.

Alex frantically looked around for something that she could use as a weapon. Her gaze fell upon a broken microphone stand. It must have fallen when the stage collapsed. She darted for it as fast as she could and barely managed to grab it. Her hands were trembling so tad that it was hard for her to keep her grip on it. "You wanna kill me? Well not without a fight, freak!" she managed to say, shakily.

She raised the microphone stand and pretended to prepare to strike it. Somehow she didn't think that the thing would be stupid enough to just stand there and let it hit her without reacting violently, though. So instead, she changed her trajectory and threw it as hard as she could at the glass chandelier that was hanging directly about the vampire's head.

"Perfect hit," she gloated to herself. "I guess all of those drunken nights shooting beer cans off of Jay's fence finally paid off."

The vampire queen laughed as the glass chandelier shattered around her. "Foolish girl, though she has spunk. She would make a good addition to my minion army," the Queen decided. She leapt upon the girl, grabbing her and lifting her from the ground. The Queen threw her into a wooden table and watched as it splintered around her and collapsed, broken in several pieces. Again, the queen leapt upon her, sinking her teeth into the girl's tender throat, drinking greedily from her.

Alex couldn't even scream as she felt the teeth pierce her neck. The iciest chill slowly consumed her body and she could actually feel her heart beating wildly from terror as her throat closed up. No sound could escape her lips, and she could taste her own blood as it rose in her throat. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back, trying weakly...desperately to pull away. But she got no response from her limbs.

She felt her heart starting to slow and became painfully aware of her surroundings. The room started to close in and everything moved with an excruciating, painfully slow grace. Her eyes began to clos as she frantically fought the darkness that was consuming her sight. A black film descended on her eyes. Though they remained open, she could see nothing.

Meanwhile, Dylan cried out as he saw Marco flying through the air and landing hard on a table. He started toward Marco, but then saw a movement from the corner of his eye. Out of instinct, he turned toward it.

One of the queen's minions watched as his mistress headed toward what he had planned as his first meal. He changed directions, heading instead for the two humans on the other side, disappointed that there were only two treats, but his queen always got first choice. So he'd make do. Besides, the crown upon the girl's head was enticing. He leapt at the pair, grabbing the girl and sinking his teeth into her soft neck before she could escape.

"Oh my GOD! Like who does this?" Paige had heard of necking, but she didn't think that this was what they meant! She slapped at the creep-o boy trying to bite her neck. And what was he thinking when he put on all that makeup, she wondered. "Get off me, you freak!"

She screamed as she felt the guy's teeth actually biting into her neck. Not like a cute little love nip, either. It HURT!

What was going on?!

She tried to pull away from the guy, but couldn't. Soon she started feeling really weak.

"This can't be real!" Dylan thought, still in shock. "I've seen way too many horror movies and they're all coming back to haunt me." On the other hand, perhaps it was a good thing that he'd seen so many of the movies. In a weird sort of way it prepared him for this. He grabbed the _vampire(!)_ that was attacking his sister. He gripped its jaw and tried to force the mouth open so it would release Paige without tearing out her neck.

He managed to free her, but gasped as he saw the blood flowing from the puncture wounds in her neck. "Paige, run!" he cried out, not even sure if she was able. He wanted to help her, but first he had to deal with the vampire.

As soon as Marco was able to catch his breath and move again, he realized that everyone really needed to get out of there. There were far too many creatures bursting forth and there was no way the students could fight them all and win. So they had to get out. He remembered seeing Ellie drop. He needed to get to her, then maybe he and Jesse could get her out together.

Trying not to draw any attention to himself, he crawled through the debris to get to where Ellie and Jesse were huddled. He gave Jesse what little smile he could offer, silently thanking her for helping his best friend. He hated to think what would have happened if Ellie'd been left unconscious and unprotected as the beasts began to swarm.

"We need to get out," he stated the obvious to Jesse before turning his attention to Ellie. He was relieved to see Ellie's eyes open, but she didn't look well at all. "Ellie, can you hear me?" he asked, peering down at her worriedly.

Ellie looked around frantically, still not quite sure what was going on. "Marco?" she asked with a tremor in her voice. She had the most terrible feeling settling in the pit of her stomach. She looked around at the wreckage of the gym. She tried to sit up, but her back was sore from the fall and she couldn't quite. She struggled to see Marco's face better from her twisted angle, courtesy of her vain attempts at rising from the floor. "What is happening?" she looked deep into Marco's eyes, knowing that he knew the answer. She had the strangest feeling of clarity, but she wanted him to tell her that her feeling was wrong.

Marco didn't know what to tell her. It was too chaotic to try and explain everything as his Nana had explained it to him. He gave her a tired smile. "A whole new world beginning," he answered her question, his voice shaking a little. "I'll explain later, but we need to get out. Jesse and I can help you. Do you think you can walk if you lean on us?" He looked worriedly back at the stage where there were still creatures of all sorts emerging from the fiery hole.

Ellie looked around again, and then back to Marco. "Yeah...whatever. Let's just get out of here. Now."

Marco nodded quickly and took Ellie's arm, wrapping it around his neck to use as support. He looked at Jesse and gave her a hopeful look, asking for help.

Jesse helped Ellie up, letting half the other girl's body weight lean on her. Something told her that she needed to help Ellie. She stood, trying to help Marco get Ellie and themselves to safety. Through the fallen ceiling, she saw that the moon was black, like coal. The wind was blowing furiously, causing the debris in the gym to stir.

She couldn't help but wonder what would happen if she didn't make it through the night. If she wasn't able to tell her deceased father that she forgave him. Forgave him for leaving her and her mother in the world. If she wasn't able to thank her mother for everything, giving her life, supporting her decisions.

The Queen felt stronger as she felt the girl's strength fading. She stopped close of killing the girl and carefully slit her wrist. She pressed the wrist to her prey's mouth and forced her to drink, lest she drown in blood. As the girl drank, the Queen begins looking for the two boys that had been the girl's companion. She had not yet fed enough.

She let the girl fall from her grasp and fall in a heap on the ground before her.

Alex became aware of the sounds around her. She could hear every wisp of noise that took place. She slowly opened her eyes and placed her hand upon her neck. She drew it back to find it covered in blood. She stared at her hand in terror. She should not be bleeding that much from the neck. This couldn't be good. She recoiled from it and looked around for a rag or something.

She stood up, but the dizziness that overcame her was so powerful that she began to gag. Her senses were reeling. She leaned over and threw up lightly, not knowing how to control anything that she was feeling. "What is happening to me?" she wondered desperately. "God, somebody help!" She was so confused. Where were Jay and Sean?

She stumbled over to a table and sat down, putting her head between her legs to fight off the nausea that was fighting to take over again. She had never felt so powerless in her life. She had never let anyone make her feel powerless. She hated the new feelings. She hated being able to see...and hear...and smell everything a million times more powerful than ever before.

The Vampire Queen laughed as she watched her newest minion struggle. The girl was hers, she could feel it. Her death was imminent, but she would rise again, to become one of the Queen's faithful servants. The Queen could sense that she would be powerful one day. Very powerful. She would be molded by the Queen herself, perhaps. And groomed to do great things. "Die well, my childe," the Queen sneered cruelly at her, stepping over her as she continued to look for new prey. Or perhaps she would save those two males for her new minion. She might like a familiar friend or two to...play with when she woke up.

"What the hell did you do to me, you evil bitch," Alex gasped sickly, grasping desperately to her consciousness. "Tell me what is happening to me," she ordered.

But the Queen doesn't even do her the honor of telling her. She'd figure it out soon enough. The Queen planted her foot in the middle of Alex's chest and pressed, as if squeezing the last of the blood from her.

Then she turned to find the cowards who had run away. The one with the baseball cap, she found fallen, pinned beneath a chunk of the ceiling. Crying for his mama, no less. The Queen took great pleasure as she stepped atop the ceiling crushing him to the ground with an even greater weight. He screamed only once before he couldn't breathe. The Queen laughed as she watched him turn first red, then a nice shade of blue as he struggled unsuccessfully for air. The moment he stopped struggling, she let up, however. She wanted him unconscious, but not dead. He would make a fine plaything for her pet.

Now where was that other boy? The one in the sweatshirt.

The Queen spotted him not too far away, unconscious already. Poor thing got hit in the head, she supposed. She laughed with glee as she scooped him up and returned for the blue one. Easily flinging the ceiling chunk off him, she pick him up and returned to her pet, depositing the newfound toys before her.

Paige was relieved when Dylan was suddenly there, pulling the creep off her. He yelled at her to run, but as she turned to go, she happened to look down and noticed that she was totally getting blood on her dress. Ew! And that was going to stain if she didn't fix it quick. Not like she was going to wear the dress again, of course, but she wanted it for her memory box. She had to try and save it. She grabbed a tablecloth from the nearest table and started trying to scrub the stain from her dress while Dylan fought the creepy guy.

"Oh my god, do you people ever stop screaming?" she grouched. "It's not like the sky is falling or something, people!"

Except then she noticed that it kind of was.

Her eyes widened as she looked around and saw what was happening around her.

"Oh. My. God! This is totally ruining Homecoming!" she thought as she felt her eyes rolling back. Her legs gave way and she fainted.

When the ceiling started coming down, Spinner had managed to crawl under a table like Principal Raditch had told them all to do. He'd even stayed there with his arms over his head as instructed. He never expected he'd actually follow Raditch's orders, but this one had seemed like a pretty good one. At least it did until he heard Paige scream. He'd know her voice anywhere.

He had to find her. He crawled out from under the table and looked for her. He spotted Dylan, fighting with some weird guy. An ex boyfriend, maybe? It seemed pretty intense. He started to look away then noticed her, lying on the ground. Covered with blood.

He rushed over to her.

"Honeybee?" He called, slapping her cheek lightly. "Paige, pumpkin? Wake up!"

He noticed several beastie things coming toward them.

"Maybe I should just carry her," he figured. He struggled to pick her up, hoisting her over his shoulder in a fireman's carry.

"Yo, Dylan, you okay there?" he asked as an afterthought, looking over to Paige's brother.

Dylan forced the vampire's face away from his neck and shoved him as hard as he could. Astoundingly it turned out to be pretty hard and the vampire went flying. Dylan's eyebrows raised. "Guess I didn't know my own strength," he thought inanely, before turning toward the person talking to him.

"Just great, Spin, thanks for all your help," he smile a little too   
brightly at his sister's boyfriend. He noticed the way Spinner had his sister slung over his shoulder as if she were a sack of potatoes, so he supposed he could forgive him for not helping fight the vampire off. "Come on, let's get her out of here..." 

Unfortunately that was easier said than done.

As they tred to make their way out of the gym, they were set upon again. Dylan tried to block a giant wolf from attacking Spinner and Paige, but while he was dealing with that, the same vampire thing returned and grabbed Paige, trying to yank her from Spinner's hold.

Alex felt the world spinning wildly out of control as she once again began to lose focus on the things before her. She was vaguely aware of Jay's presence, though she couldn't see him quite clearly. She got up and began to stumble away, trying to find a safe place to hide until the feelings passed. She made her way out of the gym and found an empty classroom to lie down in.

The Queen watched her go, shaking her head. What was it with children never putting away their toys? Her newest had left her playthings unattended.

The Queen motioned to several more of her minions. "Pick those up," she demanded, pointing to the two prone forms on the ground. "You will need to find us a suitable home," she turned to another. "Report back here in 10. And it had better be a prime spot."

Marco looked back over at the stage again as they made their way out. He couldn't shake the feeling that there was something he needed to do. Something he'd left behind maybe? He didn't know. But the feeling in his gut said that he needed to go back there. It was hard to even look away again, but getting Ellie out was important to him. He needed to know that his friends were safe.

He realized at that thought what it was that needed to be done. He looked back again at the stage, his heart pounding with intense fear. He realized why he needed to go back. He closed his eyes for a few moments, trying to imagine if there was some way to accomplish it without putting himself at great risk. But he couldn't think of any. And it had to be done.

He looked back at Jesse and Ellie. "Can you two make it from here?" he asked, shouting to be heard over the wind. His gut was telling him that it would be the last time he saw his best friend, but there was no time to let emotion get the best of him, so he blinked back the tears that were trying to start.

Jesse nodded her head in reply. "I think." She took on more of Ellie's weight. "C'mon, we need to get out of here."

But Ellie was reluctant to move. She knew something was wrong. The way Marco was looking when he asked--as well as the horrible feeling that she had--triggered her concern. She pulled away from Jesse and shuffled carefully toward Marco. "Marco, what are you going to do?"

Marco gave her a sad smile, knowing he couldn't tell her. She'd never let him go. But someone had to do it, and he was pretty sure it was himself. "What needs to be done," he told her, hugging her and kissing her goodbye before turning and running through the school hallway, back into the building rather than away from it like everyone else. If he was going to pull this off, he was going to need supplies.

And lots of them.


	3. Chemistry Blows

"Marco, wait!" Ellie called after him. She gave Jesse a helpless look before taking off after Marco. Her back still hurt and the pain was starting to spread to her left leg, but she forced away any awareness of it and keep moving.

When she caught up to him, she breathlessly leaned against his shoulder for support. "Marco...I am not leaving. Whatever you are planning to do, you have to let me help."

Marco wrapped his arm around her, to support her. He wanted to tell her no, that she should go outside where she'd be safe. Except that he wasn't sure that she'd be any safer out there anyway. The beasts hadn't been staying in the gym--they were spreading to the outside world.

Besides, much as he didn't want to involve Ellie in his plan, what he had in mind would probably take more than one person to pull off.

So he nodded, reluctantly. 

"We need to seal that hole so nothing more comes out of it," He informed her, trying not to let his voice shake. "I think I know how."

They were almost to his intended destination anyway: the chemistry room, which was mercifully unlocked.

Unfortunately the chemical pantry wasn't.

"We need to get in there," Marco told Ellie, looking around for something they could use to break the door open.

What Marco was talking about was...really big. Ellie wanted to tell him that they should just forget about the hole and leave the school. That they should find somewhere to hide from these creatures. But she had the feeling he wouldn't accept that as an option. Besides, he was right. They couldn't just let the hole remain open. More people would die.

"Okay, umm.... what about.... what about just getting the key? The school is under attack. I am sure that no one is sitting in the office thinking, 'What if someone decides to steal the key to the chemistry lab and blows everything up? I should probably stay here with the evil ghoulies & keep an eye on it.'"

Marco nodded sheepishly. He hadn't even thought of that, and yeah, okay, a key would be much easier. He headed over to the teacher's desk and yanked open the top drawer, hoping that there'd be one there. Sure enough. "El, you're a genius."

He unlocked the pantry and went in to gather supplies. He wasn't even sure what chemicals to look for, so he just grabbed any bottles that had the flammable sticker on them and started handing them out to Ellie.

They'd also need something to light them.

He looked at the little chemistry lab butane torches and grabbed a couple of those as well.

Supplies collected, it was time to actually do it. The hard part. He hoped he didn't look as terrified as he felt. Despite what they were about to attempt, he really didn't have a death wish. 

"Maybe we should forget it. Let someone else worry about it," he thought. Except he knew in his heart that he couldn't. If they could even just seal off the hole temporarily it would save a lot of people--many of them his friends. And then they could figure out a more permanent solution, and start working on getting rid of the things that had already escaped.

"Okay," he assured himself, "we can do this." There was still another problem though. "We need to find something that we can use to delay the explosion. So we can place these, light them, but not have them go off until we can get away from them a bit. Like a 'Molotov cocktail'," he informed Ellie. "We need to find something to use as a fuse."

"Marco, I don't know about all of this," Ellie proclaimed. "What you are suggesting sounds really dangerous. What if something goes wrong? Look, I want to stop this just as much as you do, but we aren't superheroes. We are not the X-Men...or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. We are just kids and it's not our responsibility to risk our lives against these things. We are only going to get ourselves killed."

Marco wanted very much to agree with her and run like so many others were doing. They could head for the hills. Hole up until...until something found them and killed them. That didn't seem like a good option, either. And his gut was still telling him that this was what his Nana meant when she told him he had to be at the dance tonight. It was his destiny.

He smiled sadly at Ellie as he set down his supplies for a moment and wrapped his arms around her again. "El...my Nana told me this was coming," he informed her. He explained what his grandmother had told him about the force of good that would emerge, that his friends and he himself would be part of that force. "Now, I know we're not superheroes. But somebody has to do this. If we don't, the whole city will be overrun by morning. We won't stand a chance. Our friends, our parents…it'll all be gone. There'll be nothing left to save." He gazed into her eyes, making sure that she understood what he was saying. "What we're doing, I doubt it will do anything more than buy time. But we can use that time to organize and plan a defense. We...I need to do this." He kissed her temple affectionately. "But you should go. Find Sean and then find someplace safe to get people together."

Ellie shook her head. "No...I am with you." She took a deep breath and nodded. They could do this. "So what's the plan?" she asked as she took some chemical bottles.

"The way I see it, we need to place these," Marco picked up a couple more chemical jars, "around the edges of the hole. Just inside it, if that's possible. A few on each side. We put cloth in the jars and light cloth—that should give us enough time to get away. They should explode and cause the hole to collapse in on itself." It sounded good, anyway. "I don't think it will hold for a really long time, but it should buy a day or two, maybe." He hoped. He had the feeling that it would, but it could just be wishful thinking. "You can maybe try to distract the things. Take some of these," Marco handed her a couple smaller chemical jars, "and set a few smaller cocktails around the gym. You can set them off and maybe draw some attention away from the stage. And we need to get everyone who's left in the gym out. Maybe you can help them and I'll go up and place these in the hole..." Marco knew he was babbling, but he was nervous, and not altogether sure that this plan of his had any chance whatsoever of working. It probably shouldn't work, but he had a feeling that somehow it would.

"Okay," Ellie sighed breathlessly. "I think that we can do this." She turned her eyes up to Marco's face. "Promise me that you won't do anything too stupid."

Marco smiled and hugged her again, briefly. "Come on, El. Since when have I ever done anything stupid…Don't. Answer. That. I promise. You be careful, too. Promise," he insisted as he started once again collecting up his things again. "We better get going. The sooner we get this done, the better."

Something told Ellie that Marco wasn't so sure he could keep his promise, but she shook off the feeling. If Marco promised, she trusted him. She gave him a shaky smile and nodded. "Okay. I promise, too. Now let's do what most teenagers only dream about...let's go blow up the gym."

Despite the horrible situation, Marco couldn't help but grin. Just that little trace of humor did him a lot of good. There was hope for them yet. They just had to maintain some semblance of normalcy even in what had just turned into an insane world. Everything was eventually going to be okay.

Marco dumped the garbage from the small wastebasket and filled it with as many bottles as it would hold. He pocketed one of the mini torches. And as an afterthought, he grabbed a couple pairs of safety glasses. Dorky, but hopefully effective. He gave Ellie a lopsided grin as he donned a pair and handed the others to her. Ready as they'd ever be. "Let's do it." He started walking back toward the gym, lugging the basket of chemicals.

It was strange. To Ellie it felt like she was doing the stupidest thing possible, yet she couldn't turn around. She followed Marco, thinking that he was far too brave for his own good. The idea to lock him in a closet or something briefly flashed through her mind. It would greatly increase his chance of survival, but she knew that Marco needed to do this....no matter the cost. She sensed that there would be a big one too. "No. I can't think about that right now," she told herself. "Just concentrate on the task at hand. Yeah right. Who am I trying to fool?"

They reached the gym quickly and easily, but from there out, ease wasn't likely. Marco took one last look at Ellie, giving her a brave smile. He refused to say goodbye, though, instead opting for, "Be careful. You get in trouble, " He kissed her cheek lightly. "See you later," he said, knowing he was probably lying. He headed into the gym, sticking as close to the wall as he could, hoping not to draw any attention to himself.

He cringed as he spotted several of his friends amidst the rubble. Craig was awake, but clearly dazed. Marco could see blood on his temple. He'd probably been hit by part of the falling ceiling. Then there were Jimmy and Hazel, and not far from them, Ashley. All three were lying unconscious (please only unconscious). He wanted to stop and check on them, but couldn't afford to. Ellie could help them, or if he succeeded, he'd help them on the way out.

Marco also spotted several students (including Jay and someone he really hoped for Ellie's sake wasn't Sean) being carried off toward the far exit of the gym. He really hoped they were still alive, but there was nothing he could do to help them just then, either. He needed to stay focused on his task.

"Okay," Ellie thought, "so I need a distraction." She looked around the gym for something that would really get the attention of a demonic fiend. And here she was thinking that Paige was the very embodiment of evil. She needed to do something. She felt so helpless just standing there watching Marco run off like some big hero or something. She found herself invoking every deity she could think of, hoping to stumble onto a miracle.

It wasn't the miracle she was looking for, but somewhere in the midst of her invocations a small fire erupted at her feet. Within a few moments the small frame traveled along an unseen fuse until it reached some of the debris from the ceiling. It ignited, precariously close to Jimmy's prone form.

"Okay...what the hell was that? The day just kept getting stranger & stranger. I am dreaming all of this so there is no need to worry anymore. I am just going to sit down and wait until I wake up. Yep...that is what I am going to do," Ellie decided silently.

"Hey!" Spinner yelled at the stupid bloodsucking vampire. "Let go!" He swatted at it, almost losing hold of Paige in the process. It wasn't easy fighting when he had someone slung over his shoulder. Maybe he should put her down or something. Except then something would probably drag her off. So he kicked at the vampire thing, trying to keep it back away from Paige.

"Foolish boy," the vampire minion laughed at Spinner's attempt to fight it. What was that? Didn't they teach humans to fight anymore? The minion ignored his swats and once again lunged for the prize on his shoulder. It grabbed the girl by the hair and pull, trying again to wrench her free of Spinner's hold.

Dylan screamed as he felt the wolf's claw rip through his flesh. He was knocked from his feet. The wolf was on him practically before he even hit the ground. Its teeth dug into his shoulder. This was going to be it, this was how he was going to die.

He tried desperately to pry the wolf's jaw apart and was rewarded as he was given a moment of reprieve. He threw the wolf from him and was startled at the force he was able to put behind it. The wolf crashed into the wall and fell with a yelp. He watched for a few moments as it slowly got up and loped away, tail between its legs. It was way too hot, Jimmy thought as he slept. And his head was throbbing. He groaned and dried to throw off his blankets. Except that there didn't seem to be any blanket. There was something covering him, all right, but it wasn't fabric.

His eyes flew open and he immediately realized that there was a small fire right next to him. And that he was buried in ceiling tiles. The ceiling, he realized, must have collapsed during the earthquake! "Hazel!" he called out immediately, searching for his date.

Ellie heard someone calling for Hazel. Okay, that definitely sounded real. She gave up on her idea that it was all a dream and hurried over to Jimmy. She started trying to pull some of the debris off him. "Jimmy, you have to try harder. The fire is growing stronger by the second and I don't think I'm strong enough to help you up right now," she told him, thinking of her injured back. She looked around for something to help put out the fire.

Jimmy was still getting his bearings, but Ellie's words got him to focus on the most pertinent problem. He started shoving chunks of the ceiling off himself and got up, moving away from the fire. "Thanks," he said to Ellie. It was only then that he got a better look around. "I must have hit my head really hard and am hallucinating," he figured, looking around again, searching for Hazel. Hallucinating, maybe, but there were real fires, too. "We have to get everyone out."

And then he saw her. Hazel was pinned beneath more of the ceiling only a few feet away from where he'd been. The fire was getting dangerously close to her. "Ellie help me!" he called out as he started trying to dig Hazel free. There was no way he was going to be able to get her out of there before the fire reached her.

"Okay...uh...," Ellie stammered. "What the hell do I do?" she wondered silently. She start trying to pull Hazel out from under the debris. "The fire is spreading fast and I don't know how to put it out." She stared at it feeling more and more helpless every second. Her gaze got lost in it's bright fiery colors....which needless to say, was probably not the best thing to be enamored by at the moment. Slowly it started to get dimmer, its powerful hues becoming dull & lifeless. It slowly got closer to Ellie as she tried to free Hazel from the caved ceiling. Ellie backed away slightly as she pulled harder, not getting much farther with getting Hazel free.

Suddenly she felt a powerful heat surrounding her ankles. She looked down to notice that the fire was literally touching her. She felt no pain, though. Just warmth. She felt herself growing more desperate by the moment. The fire was practically on top of her now. Okay, so it was on top of her, but that meant it was almost to Hazel's prone body, and somehow Ellie knew that Hazel would feel it. "Come on, Hazel. You have to wake up!"

Marco managed to get up to the stage without attracting attention, but once he was there, he realized a problem. He had the chemicals and the torch to light them, but still nothing to use as a fuse.

Frustrated he moved back into the gym, searching for something to use.

Tablecloths. He grabbed one from the remainder of a table and began ripping sections from it. It would have to do. He readied a couple chemical jars with long fuses and crept back onto the stage to set the first couple jars.

He decided not to light them just yet--he was afraid if he did he might cut himself too short of time to set the ones on the other side. So leaving the jars unlit, he grabbed the rest of the jars and tried to sneak to the other side of the stage without being noticed.

Jimmy and Ellie almost had Hazel uncovered. The fire should have reached Hazel by then, but miraculously, it hadn't. Jimmy pulled the last large chunk from Hazel's legs, freeing her. He pulled her away from the flames before they could reach her. He was about to turn back to make sure that Ellie was okay when he heard a groan behind him. He turned to see Craig stumbling closer. He seemed really out of it. "Craig! Over here!"

Marco managed to get to the other edge of the stage and noticed Manny Santos lying unconscious near the edge. He set down his remaining jars and went to her. Unable to wake her, he grabbed her arms and dragged her, looking for somewhere safer for her to be until he could come back for her. Somewhere she wouldn't be caught in the blast.

After getting her safely away, he went back to finish his task. He placed the last of the jars. Time to do it. He looked around to make sure that there was no one else left in the line of fire. Dylan, Paige, and Spinner were all fairly close to the stage, but should be all right, he figured. Unless the blast was much bigger than he expected.

His hand was trembling as he lit the first of the long fuses. He only hoped they were long enough to give him time to light the rest of them.

"Is she okay?" Ellie asked as she stepped away from the flames. She walked over to Jimmy and Hazel and started to check her for injuries. "Hazel, wake up."

Hazel showed no sign of waking, but she was breathing, and Jimmy could feel her pulse beating strongly. She'll be okay. She has to be. He looked over to where Craig was still stumbling around in a daze. "Craig!" He looked back to Ellie, startled as he noticed that the fire that should have swallowed Hazel seemed to have stopped moving in their direction at all. He didn't think too much about it, though. He was just relieved and not looking a gift horse in the mouth. "We need to get everybody out. I'll take Hazel, you should help Craig," he called to Ellie.

The fuse was burning a lot faster than Marco had hoped for, he noticed immediately. He didn't have much time, but he had to get the other side lit or it would all be in vain.

He didn't have time to carefully get back over to the other side--he just run as fast as he could, scrambling past several beasts as he tried to get to the first jars before the ones on the other side blew.

He felt one of the beasts lunge for him and barely managed to dodge its grasp. His safety glasses went flying, and he felt the remainder of his basket of chemical jars slipping from his grasp. He didn't have time to worry about it. He was just relieved it didn't catch him.

He reached the far side and quickly light fuses.

As he finished, though, he turned and found himself face-to-face with the beast that had nearly grabbed him moments before.

It had the basket, and one of the jars in its upraised claw.

Marco backed away, but tripped and fall off the edge of the stage, landing hard on the gym floor.

He involuntarily cried out in terror as he looked up and saw the thing raise the chemical jar over its head, ready to slam it down on him.

At Marco's cry, Ellie turned to see him lying on the gym floor next to the stage. "Marco!" she called to him as she started running towards the stage, praying she made it in time.

Dylan looked up as he heard Ellie yelling Marco's name. He looked first toward the yell and saw Ellie running to the back of the gym. So he looked in that direction and saw Marco.

Time seemed to freeze as Dylan watched in horror as the beast on the stage hurled something down at his Marco's head. Within moments Marco's screams filled the air. And then the beast leapt down upon him. NO!

Dylan began to run, just as Ellie was, knowing that Marco's life depended on them reaching him. He barreled into the beast and shoved it off his boyfriend.

Marco heard Ellie scream his name, but didn't have time to look for her before he saw the chemical jar falling toward him. He didn't even had time to raise his arms to try and deflect it. He tried to roll onto his side, but rolled the wrong way. The jar hit the ground and shattered, sending glass and chemicals into his face. It burned his skin and eyes. He began screaming from the extreme pain and fright as the world went suddenly dark. He wasn't unconscious, he only wished he were. He clawed blindly at the ground, trying to get away, but then he felt a great weight upon him and teeth ripping into his skin. He felt something else hit the thing on his back, shoving it away. He couldn't see what was going on, though, couldn't see if the thing was about to attack again.

"Ellie!" he cried out desperately, unsure which way to go, or how to escape. He also seemed to have lost control of his legs. He couldn't feel them. But he didn't want to die, he needed to get out. He used his hands to try and drag his body. "Help me! Ellie!"

Ellie crouched down next to Marco, trying to calm him. "Dylan...what do we do?" she asked helplessly as she took in Marco's injuries.

Marco heard Ellie's voice and dragged himself toward her. "Ellie?" He grabbed onto what he hoped was her. "Ellie?"

Dylan turned to try and help but is stunned as he took in the pathetic sight of his boyfriend's broken body. Marco's lower body was twisted in an unnatural position and Dylan could see the blood pooling about him. But worse was revealed when Marco turned his head slightly toward Dylan. Dylan let out a cry of sympathy as he saw Marco's face. His skin looked partially melted and his eyes were a murky white.

Before he could recover from the horrifying image, the beast was on him. Dylan found himself thrown to the ground and immediately felt teeth tearing into him. Moments later, his world went dark.

A/N. This fic is the product of a Role Playing Game on Yahoo Groups. If you're interested in taking part, we need more players! Please only sign up if you're serious about participating. You can find us by clicking on the homepage show in our profile, or by going to the yahoogroup entitled degrassienchanted.

The authors of this story are as follows:  
Serenity (plays Ellie, Alex, and other characters as needed), Chaos (plays Marco, Dylan, and other characters as needed), Azaria (plays Paige), Daq (plays Spinner), and Tiffany (plays Jesse). All other roles are currently "available".

The game will be transcribed into this story and posted as a fanfic. Hope you enjoy! 


	4. If at first you don't succeed

Ellie could only watch in horror as Marco tried to drag himself toward her. "Ellie?" He grabbed onto her and she stared at his horrifyingly murky eyes. "Ellie?"

* * *

"Ellie?" Marco asked worriedly, slapping her face lightly, trying to break her out of her apparent trance. "Ellie, can you hear me?" he tried again. She'd been spacing out for the last minute or so and he was beginning to wonder if maybe he should try to find her some help and go on with his plan without her. But he didn't want to leave her unprotected like this. "Ellie?" 

Finally she focused on him. "Oh, god! Marco! What happened?" she looked at him, thoroughly confused. She was right; it had been a dream. It had to have been. That was the only thing that made sense. She peered into his eyes, no longer murky and was relieved. That was a short-lived feeling, however, when she remembered what was happening. "Marco, we have to leave now," she said as she grabbed onto both of his wrists, desperately. She didn't want whatever just happened to happen again…or for the first time…or whatever. She couldn't bear it if it really happened.

Marco wanted to agree with her and run like everyone else was doing. They could head for the hills; hole up until…until something found them and killed them. Which wasn't a very good option, either. And his gut was still telling him that this was what his Nana meant when she said that he had to be here tonight.

He smiled sadly at her as he set down his supplies and wrapped his arms around her. "El…my Nana told me this was coming," he informed her. He explained what she'd told him about the force of good that would emerge, and that his friends would be part of that force. "Now I know we're not superheroes, but somebody has to do this. If we don't, the whole city will be overrun by morning. We won't stand a chance. Our friends, our parents…they'll all be gone. There'll be nothing left to save. What we're doing…I doubt it will do anything more than buy time, but we can use that time to organize and plan a defense. We…I need to do this." He kissed her temple and stroked her hair out of her face. "But you should go. Find Sean and then find someplace safe to get people together."

Ellie blinked. "Wait…what?" Major déjà vu. What the hell was going on? She couldn't help but think that the gods were angry about Paige winning Homecoming Queen, and this was just something they cooked up to get revenge on all those who voted for her. "Marco, I am not leaving you. And you are not going out there. This whole plan of yours is stupid and it's only going to get you hurt…or worse. I can guarantee it. We have to leave. Now!"

"Ellie, I have to do this," Marco told her firmly, a little hurt that she dismissed his plan as being stupid without even hearing it. "We have to collapse the hole in on itself," he explained. "The way I see it, I need to place a few of these," he picked up a couple of the chemical jars, "around the edges of the hole-just inside it, if it's possible." He sighed. "I know that this probably won't hold for a really long time, but it should buy a day or two, maybe. And that may be the difference between all of us living or all of us dying. Now, I understand if you don't want to be part of this, but I have to try, El."

"Yeas, yes, I know all about your suicidal plan, Marco," Ellie protested. "I also know that it is way too dangerous for you to attempt. Look, we will save as many of our friends as we can, and then we'll hide out until everything calms down. Marco, please!"

Marco wanted to say okay. He wanted to take the easy way out, but he knew he couldn't. "I'm sorry, El. You can't talk me out of this. It's what I'm supposed to do. I feel it," he told her as he dumped the garbage from the small wastebasket and filled it with as many bottles as it could hold. He pocketed the mini butane torch. "I'll…be okay," he had the growing feeling that he wouldn't be, but knew that this was what needed to be done. "Even if I'm not, I have to try." He looked at her sadly, wanting her blessing. Even if he didn't get it, though, this was something he needed to do. "Please understand, Ellie. I would rather die trying than just give up and watch everyone I care about getting killed because nobody did anything to stop it."

Ellie signed in resignation as she realized that nothing was going to deter him from his mission. "Okay. I understand." She paused for a moment, thinking. She knew what would happen if he tried to pull this off. He was going to fail, and he was going to get seriously hurt. But maybe she could do it. "But let me do it. I will light the fires and you try to save some of the students."

Marco smiled a little as she agreed to help him, but he had a really bad feeling when she suggested that she do it instead of him. "El, you don't have to do that," he told her softly, not wanting her to get hurt. "I told you, I have to do this, not you."

"Marco, I saw you get hurt, okay? I saw it. I know that doesn't make any sense, but I have to do this. It's the only way that I will help you. You have to let me do this."

Maybe it's because of his Nana, but Marco did believe her. He swallowed hard. He almost asked just exactly what she saw, but somehow he felt that if he did know, he wouldn't have the guts to go through with what needed to be done. Or help Ellie get it done. He hesitated for a moment, and then nodded, realizing that it was probably the only choice. "Okay. Just, please promise me that you'll be careful. I don't want to lose you, either."

"I will," she promised, kissing him lightly on the cheek. "Okay, so if I am going to play 'Militant Barbie' today, it might help if you walk me through this. What exactly do I need to do?"

"Unfortunately, there's no time to find pink camouflage," Marco teased lightly before launching into his plan, telling her how she should set the chemicals inside the hole, as deep as she could without getting herself into trouble. "We'll need to get something to use as fuses to light…maybe the tablecloths or something," he continued telling her his plan of setting the chemical explosives then lighting them-preferably with enough time to get away before they exploded and collapsed the hole. "Make sense?" he asked, hoping she understood what he had in mind. "Or if you have a better idea to close it up, by all means."

"Right, because I am planning to major in vampire slaying. You seem to know what you're talking about, so I will just go with this and hope that I don't get everybody killed." The image of Marco being attacked flashed through her mind and she failed at suppressing a shudder. She realized perfectly well that she was probably going to be bringing the same fate upon herself, but hoped that she would somehow be able to avoid it, since she knew what to expect. She hugged Marco tightly, not wanting to let him go, ever again. She had a terrible feeling about what they were doing and thought that it was probably the last time that she was ever going to see him.

"Marco, if I don't come back, I just want you to know that I love you. You are the best friend that I could have ever hoped for. You are more than I deserve and I can't imagine how my life would have been without you."

Marco didn't want to say goodbye. Even though the odds were that both of them would survive was extremely slim, he refused to give in and accept that. He hugged her back, just as tight. "I love you too, El. And you are coming back. We're going to make it," he lied through his teeth, knowing that she knew the odds, too. Probably better than he did, since she apparently had had a vision about it. He just had to keep Ellie from meeting the same fate she saw, he realized. He'd watch her closely, and at the first sign of trouble, he'd be there. He won't let whatever happened to him in her vision happen to her.

He kissed her temple and released her from the hug.

As an afterthought, he grabbed a couple pairs of safety glasses. Dorky, but hopefully effective. He gave Ellie a lopsided grin as he donned a pair and handed the others to her. Ready as they'd ever be. "Let's do it." He started walking back toward the gym, lugging the basket of chemicals.

When they got to the gym, Ellie stepped away from Marco slightly, knowing that this was it and they were walking separate paths now. "Marco, you go help Jimmy and Hazel. They are going to need it," she directed him as she walked toward the stage and began setting up the chemicals like she'd seen him do. She looked back at him and met his eyes for a fraction of a second, before turning away and getting back to the task.

Marco was afraid to take his eyes off Ellie, remembering her warning that she'd seen him hurt. He had to make sure she wasn't in his place. But she said that he needed to help Jimmy and Hazel, so he sought them out. He found them both unconscious, buried beneath some of the ceiling.

He tried to push it off, but couldn't do it alone.

He spotted Craig wandering around not far away. He looked very dazed, and Marco could see blood on his temple. Marco winced, suspecting a concussion, but called to him anyway. "Craig! Over here!"

Craig came closer and Marco motioned for him to help get the chunk of ceiling off of Jimmy first.

"Jimmy, can you hear me? Wake up!"

Marco looked back up to the stage where Ellie was to make sure that she wasn't in trouble. He really should have asked her what happened in the vision so he'd know what to look for. Craig and he almost had Jimmy uncovered. If only Jimmy would wake up so that he and Craig could get Hazel and get out and Marco could go help Ellie.

Ellie grabbed a table cloth and ripped it into long strips like she'd seen Marco do. She quickly finished setting the chemicals. She placed the cloth strips into each one meticulously and then went to the other side to finish setting p the rest.

When she finished setting up the last of them, she lit the first fuse and got ready to go to the other side of the stage again, silently bracing herself for what she knew would come next.

"Jimmy, come on, wake up," Marco pleaded with the unconscious boy, slapping his face lightly. Marco smiled as Jimmy groaned and opened his eyes. "Good. Come on, get up. Hazel needs your help.

That seemed to wake Jimmy up and he looked around for his girlfriend. "Hazel?"

"She's okay," Marco assured him. "But you need to help get Craig get her out." He pointed a few feet away to where Hazel was in much the same predicament that Jimmy himself was. "Okay? Can you do that?"

Jimmy got up rather quickly, nodding. "Yeah, we got it. Hazel?"

Marco waited a moment longer to make sure that Craig and Jimmy had a handle on it, then turned and started toward the stage, extremely worried about Ellie.

One of the beasts looked up toward the stage and frowned, trying to figure out what the red-haired human was doing there. It should be running in fear. Something was wrong. The beast strutted toward it, intending to make the brave one its first meal.

Ellie saw it coming toward her, but couldn't let it stop what she needed to do. She began to light the fuses on the rest of the jars.

Manny Santos awoke with a horrible headache. Perhaps she'd hit it when she fell out of bed, she figured as she was clearly not in bed. She opened her eyes and realized that she wasn't at home, and had no idea where she even was. After a few moments she recognized a few things-enough to determine that she was in the remains of the school gym. There were little fires starting only a few yards away. She was suddenly wide awake and scrambling to her feet, determined to get away from the fire. Unfortunately, as she leapt from the stage, she lost her balance and fell, hitting her head again. She was dimly aware of someone picking her up and slinging her over their shoulder, then lost consciousness once more.

Marco saw the hell beast headed straight for Ellie and instinctively knew that it was what hurt him before. He looked around desperately for something he could use to fight it off, or at least to distract it. He didn't have enough time to try and light a chemical jar, and his aim wasn't nearly good enough to try to hit it-he was afraid that he'd somehow end up hitting Ellie as well. So he looked for something else.

The only thing he saw that might work was a table leg that had splintered from the rest of a table. It would have to do. He grabbed it as he ran the rest of the way to the stage. If he hadn't already been on his way, he never would have been able to get there in time. As it was, the beast was getting very close to its target.

"Ellie, look out!" Marco yelled, rushing up onto the stage, the suddenly pathetic seeming table leg weapon raised to strike.

He swung the meager weapon as hard as he could at the beast. He didn't think the strike was anything more than a minor annoyance to the beast, but it did what he needed it to-the beast turned toward him.

Ellie was almost done lighting the final jars when Marco ran onto the stage calling her name. She looked behind her and saw the beast turning toward Marco. "No!" She grabbed one of the jars and threw it lightly toward the beast. It was a good thing that it was still pretty close to her, so she didn't miss and end up hitting Marco. She looked back at the fuses and realized that they didn't have very long to get out of the way. "Marco! We have to get off the stage NOW!"

The beast heard the sound of glass shattering and felt a burning against its legs and back. It turned in the direction the blow had come from. The red haired human again. It roared and started toward it again.

Meanwhile a few yards away Spinner was still battling with the vampire that was trying to get to Paige. "Stop!" he yelled, kicking at the thing again and trying to keep Paige away from it. It would be a lot easier if Paige were awake and could run away. "Paige, wake up, honeybee," he pleaded with her as he tried again to keep the vampire at bay.

"Honeybee," the vampire cooed at the burden on the boy's shoulder. He realized that he didn't really need to get the girl away from the boy. He could finish her right there. He hadn't fed as much as he'd like, but if the human girl was a queen, surely she'd make a good mate for him to take. She was still bleeding and would likely bleed out soon anyway. So the vampire slit his wrist and held it to her mouth even as she was being held by her inept protector.

Dylan heard Ellie yell Marco's name and looked wildly toward them, throwing the wolf that was attacking him away. It yelped as it hit the wall and slid down before it turned and loped away, tail between its legs.

He saw Marco heading toward a beast that was headed toward Ellie. "Marco no!" he yelled, frightened for his boyfriend's life. He glanced toward Spinner and Paige, making sure they'd be okay without him. To his disgust, he saw the vampire thing apparently making his sister drink its blood while she was still slung-unconscious-over Spinner's shoulder.

Dylan grabbed the vampire and threw him away from the two of them. "Spinner, get something on her neck to stop the blood!" he yelled, then turned back toward the stage, knowing he was never going to make it there on time.

"Ellie!" Marco had to stop the thing from getting to her. Desperate, he swung his weapon at the beast again, but it wasn't enough to distract it from going after Ellie again. So he changed tactics and used the splintered end, trying to stab the beast instead. He was rewarded as the wood miraculously sank into the beast's flesh and it fell. "Ellie, come on!" he yelled, reaching out his hand for hers. He wouldn't leave the stage without her.

Ellie quickly grabbed Marco's outstretched hand and they leapt, barely missing the explosion that happened right behind them. They landed safely on the gym floor, where Ellie took a moment to catch her breath and allow the fact that they were both still alive to sink in. "Marco…I think we actually made it!" she said, slightly laughing with relief.

"See, I told you we would," he replied, grinning. He looked back at the stage, wanting to see that they'd accomplished what they set out to do. It looked like it really worked. The hole seemed to be closed. He turned back to Ellie and grabbed her in a tight hug. "We did it, El!"

"Marco!" Dylan called out as he spotted him safe and sound after the stage collapsed. He slowed to a walk as he approached them, not wanting to ruin their moment of victory. He realized what it was that they'd done-they probably saved hundreds of lives. He beamed proudly at his boyfriend and his best friend.

But the hell beast awoke as the ground shook around it. Its eyes opened and it saw the entrance collapsing, trapping its brethren below the surface. The freedom promised them had been delayed.

The red-haired human was responsible. That was what it was doing, the beast realized as it clambered to its feet and look for the culprit. She was not far away. The beast reached behind its back and grabbed the man's puny spear and pulled, feeling its flesh close over the wound as the wood pulled free. Then it started toward the red-headed human. It would pay.

Marco looked over his shoulder toward where Dylan called him. He waved, ecstatic to see his boyfriend alive and seemingly well.

He didn't know what it was that made him look back up at the stage again, but as he released Ellie from the hug, he did. His eyes widened as he saw the beast that tried to attack her before. It was back on its feet and storming closer, seemingly focused on Ellie. It had the table leg Marco had used as a weapon and was poised to stab her with it.

No!

The next moments seem to happen in slow motion. Marco didn't have time to think. He just threw himself at Ellie, pushing her out of the way. He didn't even feel it when it happened. It was like his whole body suddenly went numb. If not for Dylan's anguished yell, he might not have even realized right away what had happened. He looked down and was startled to see the table leg embedded deep in his body. Deep enough, that he was fairly sure that it had gone clear through. He fell, his legs unable to hold his weight.

He didn't feel any pain, really, but he couldn't breathe. This was it. Guess we didn't make it after all, he thought, looking over at Ellie. He wanted to apologize, but he couldn't speak, either. He felt liquid dribbling from his lips and imagined that it was probably blood.

Dylan could only watch in horror as Marco shoved Ellie out of the way and was run through by some sort of wooden beam. "Marco!" he cried out, wanting to get to him. As he neared, though, the beast turned toward Ellie. He wouldn't let Marco's sacrifice be in vain. He leapt onto the beast's back and grabbed its head, twisting as hard as he could. Its neck snaps easily and it falls to the ground, dead.

It took Ellie a moment to realize what had happened. She dropped to the floor beside Marco and put her hands over the wound, trying to staunch the flow of blood. "Dylan!" she screamed desperately. She didn't know if she should pull the stick out or not, but opted for not. "Marco, you have to hang on, okay?" she plead with him. "Just stay awake," she said, unsuccessfully fighting off tears. "Dylan, get over here now!" she screamed again, not giving Dylan a chance to even listen as she demanded his immediate attention. She looked deeply into Marco's face, begging him with her eyes to fight harder. "You can't leave me, Marco. I can't fight this thing alone," she said weakly as she ignored the tears that were now spilling from her eyes and falling down onto his cheeks.

Dylan knelt down beside Ellie, nearly passing out as the scent of blood threatened to overwhelm him. He couldn't keep from crying as he took in the full extent of Marco's injury. He looked at Ellie through his tears and pressed his hands to the wound, hoping to help her stem the flow of blood. He knew, though, that it wasn't going to help. Judging from the blood coming from his mouth, Dylan would have to guess that there was some massive internal damage. There was too much damage for them to be able to do anything for him themselves. "We need to get him help," he told Ellie, knowing that there was little to no chance that they'd be able to get him to a doctor in time. It's clear that he's unable to even breathe.

I'm sorry, Ellie, Marco tries to tell her with his eyes. He wanted to tell her that it was okay. She was alive, and he didn't regret what he did. He wanted to hang on for her, but knew it wasn't happening. He struggled to breathe, but couldn't. And it was so cold.

He heard Dylan say something about help, but knew it was too late for that. Marco wanted so much to tell Dylan that he loved him and that it was okay. He had no regrets. Not able to speak, he opted instead to reach out his hands, gently taking one of Ellie's and one of Dylan's. He couldn't close his fingers around theirs, but held them loosely. He felt his whole body spasm and looked one more time toward Dylan, hoping his fear didn't show. He tried to tell him goodbye, but only coughed, making his body spasm again.

He rolled his eyes toward Ellie.

He hoped they'd watch out for each other.

Dylan could see it the moment Marco slipped away. His eyes were still open but his body just suddenly went slack, his hand dropping from Dylan's as he finally let go.

A/N: This is written by: Serenity (as Ellie and other characters as needed), Chaos (as Marco, Dylan, other characters as needed), Daq (as Spinner), Azaria (as Paige), and Tiffany (as Jessica). If you'd like to participate in the RPG this is based on, please click on our profile link, and go to our 'homepage' to sign up. There are still many characters available!


	5. Homegoing

Paige woke up as she heard Dylan yelling something about Spinner and blood. Blood, she might add, that was going directly to her head. She could practically taste it even. Ew! 

And what was up with being slung over Spinner's shoulder? Hardly a pleasant feeling, hon. And not exactly a romantic rescue. Think carrying a bride over threshold next time, Honeybee. Think it, learn it, live it. Paige Michalchuk does not get carried around like a sack of potatoes! She kicked a little, trying to let Spinner know she was awake. "Put me down!" she insisted, though she was feeling strangely weak.

Fine. Spinner dipped his shoulder and let Paige slip to the ground. He winced as she hit a little harder than he thought she would. He reached down to help her up.

* * *

"No," Ellie cried weakly as she lay across Marco's body. This wasn't real. She was just seeing things…like before. Except this time it was worse. Why did he have to do that? She had known that she was going to die instead of him and she had accepted that. She'd tried so hard to change things. It wasn't fair. She kissed Marco's cheek tenderly as she wiped away the traces of blood around his mouth. "No. He isn't dead. This isn't real. This isn't happening." She looked at the destruction all around her. This was what he fought for? It just seemed so pointless. She wanted to feel guilty, but she couldn't allow herself to feel anything but numb. If she did, it would kill her. Instead, she just lay on top of him, burying her face into his shoulder, crying and inhaling his scent. Trying to memorize everything about him that she could. "Marco," she managed to choke out between sobs. She just kept repeating his name over and over as if it was the litany that was going to kill the horrible thing inside of her that was ripping its way through her body. Normally she would use physical pain to kill the emotional beast, but this time it was so bad that she could physically feel the pain in every nerve of her body. She was crying so hard that she couldn't breathe and found herself choking and suffocating on every tear. But she didn't care.

Dylan wanted to pull Ellie away-both for her own sake, and because she was doing precisely what he wanted to do himself. He stroked his boyfriend's hair, unable to believe that Marco was really gone. The brightest life in his life and he'd lost him. Dylan couldn't stand the way Marco's usually animated eyes now only stared lifelessly back at him. He wanted to close them, but couldn't bear to. "Ellie…we need to get out of here," he murmured at last, not wanting to at all. He wanted to stay right there with his lover. Lie down beside him and die.

But he didn't want Marco's sacrifice to be for nothing. He gently rubbed Ellie's shoulder. "Ellie, please. We need to go," he repeated, his heart breaking at the idea of leaving Marco behind.

Ellie barely even noticed that Dylan was speaking to her. To be honest, she'd forgotten that he was even there. His voice somehow managed to reach her, though, and she shook her head. "No," she said, still sobbing uncontrollably. "He is fine. He's going to be fine, Dylan. Marco is going to be fine. He promised me that he would be and he will." She realized that she wasn't making any sense, that she should get up and go with Dylan, but she couldn't move. She knew that it wasn't safe there. Part of the gym had just been blown up, and that was a safety hazard. Not to mention that there were still a few hungry fiends lurking. She knew that Marco would want her to go on, to carry on his "mission" or whatever, but she couldn't do it without him. She didn't even want to try. She was not even sure if she could save herself, let along the rest of the world. This had been his mission, and now he was dead. She might as well let his cause die with him.

How could she not know? Dylan wondered silently as he tried to gently pull her away from Marco's body. "Ellie, please, he's…" He couldn't bring himself to say the word 'dead'. He knew that's what Marco was, but he just couldn't say it. "He wouldn't want us to stay here. He'd want us to be safe. Come on." Dylan didn't want to leave him either. It didn't seem right. "We'll take him with us," he told her, without really thinking about it. Somehow he knew it was the right thing.

Ellie looked up at Dylan and knew that he was upset, too, that she should make things easier on him. But at the moment she just wanted to lay down and never get up. I can't do this, Marco, she thought to him, hoping that he would somehow hear her, like he always had when she was upset in the past. It was funny, but for a moment, she found herself thinking that she should go home and tell Marco how horrible her day had gone. Marco was the one that she usually ran to when things became too much to handle. Who was going to listen to her now?

That's when it really hit her. There was no one. She couldn't let there be. She was completely alone now. She quietly stood up and looked at Dylan through sad tearful eyes. "Okay. You can do that. I am going home."

"Ellie, you shouldn't be alone," he looked up at her, concerned. "We should all stay together." He glanced over to where Spinner and Paige were and saw Paige's legs kicking at Spinner. He was relieved to know that she was going to be okay and returned his attention to Ellie and Marco. He needed to get his boyfriend ready to move. He was very careful as he began to remove the wooden spear, even though he knew Marco couldn't feel it. He was afraid to ask, but he needed to. He looked up at Ellie. "D you know where Sean is?"

Ellie stared at him, not really hearing. "He's probably dead…like everyone else," she replied in a dead monotone voice, staring past his shoulder at nothing in particular. "I have to go home now. I feel sick." She turned away from him and walked away.

Spinner heard Dylan calling out to Ellie and looked over at them, his eyes narrowing as he saw Ellie walking away. He looked back at Dylan and Marco, who were hugging…or something. Couldn't they wait until they got home? He shook his head and looked back at Paige. "You think Craig's still having that after party?"

"Ellie!" he called after her, but he couldn't bring himself to leave Marco behind. He took off his jacket and draped it over Marco, before scooping him up, cradling him in his arms. They say that people look peaceful after they die, but Dylan didn't think Marco looked peaceful at all. He buried his face in Marco's neck, forgetting about Ellie as he held his boyfriend for the last time.

Jimmy heard someone yelling out for Ellie Nash and looked up as she walked past him, Craig, and Hazel without a word. He left Hazel with Craig and went after her. She shouldn't be alone around there.

"Ellie," he called out, running after her. He passed her and turned around to block her way. "Hey, Ellie," he greeted carefully as he saw that she'd been crying. Apparently a lot. "Where are you going? You shouldn't be out here alone," he added, looking around to make sure they weren't in any immediate danger.

"I am going home, and alone is exactly what I should be." She wanted to tell him to leave her alone, but the concern in his voice held her back. "I am used to being alone, so why should now be any different?" she stated flatly as she walked around him and continued toward the door.

Jimmy frowned, looking back at Hazel and Craig, unsure what he should do. He didn't want to leave Hazel, but he shouldn't let Ellie go off alone, either. Hazel had Craig to take care of her, though, so he made a split second decision and turned to chase after Ellie again. "Ellie, everything's changed. You shouldn't be alone. You don't have to be," he tentatively took her arm. He'd always liked her, but they'd never been close. She looked like she needed a hug, though, so he gently pulled her forward and wrapped his arms around her. "Hey, it's going to be okay. We're going to get through this, okay?"

"No. I can't get through this…and I don't even want to," she sighed weakly, suddenly very tired. "Can I please just go home now?" she asked, starting to cry again.

Jimmy's frown deepened. He still had no clue what to do. She wanted to go, and he knew that Ellie Nash was the type who could take care of herself. But still, he didn't think that she should be alone. Not on a night like tonight, and not in her obviously traumatized state. He looked back at the school, trying to decide. Craig was with Hazel, and there were still others in there. Ellie was alone.

"Okay, look. Let me walk you home, then. We'll make sure it's clear and everything's okay," he compromised, figuring he could come back for the others once he was sure that Ellie would be okay.

Ellie didn't really want to be near anyone, but she could tell that Jimmy wasn't going to let it drop unless she agreed, so she nodded silently.

"Good," Jimmy replied, looking back at the gym. He figured he should probably go in and tell Craig where he was going, but he figured that Ellie would probably take off without him. Besides, if they were to leave the gym, they'd probably head to Craig's. Or the hospital. He shuddered as he thought about how busy the doctors would be that night. He fell into step beside Ellie, wanting to say reassuring things, but he found he had nothing positive to say. The silence was driving him crazy, though, and he needed to talk. "Was it Sean?" he asked, though he knew he shouldn't. She was obviously upset, and he suspected that the only thing that would make her this upset were if someone had died. Besides, it usually helps to talk about things rather than bottle them up.

"No," Ellie replied distantly. "I don't even know where Sean is. He and Jay were planning something to crash the dance tonight…they can be real jerks at times." She knew that what she was saying had nothing to do with what happened, but she needed to vent her emotions somehow. Being angry at Sean and Jay over something that wasn't their fault was a lot easier than thinking about Marco's death. Jimmy was Marco's friend, too, though. And he should know. "Jimmy," she gasped through more tears. "It was Marco. Marco's dead." Somehow actually voicing that fact makes it more real. More indisputable. "He was trying to close the hole and we were attacked. He was just trying to save everyone and that…thing killed him. How is that fair!"

"What?" Jimmy tried to comprehend what she was telling him. "No…Marco's not…he wouldn't…" He trailed off because he was about to say that Marco wasn't the type to go all hero on everyone, but he realized that it wasn't true. Marco was small, but he was anything but weak, and he'd do just about anything for his friends. Jimmy's eyes stung as he realized that what she was saying did ring true. "It isn't fair," he agreed softly, feeling horrible. It doesn't feel real, knowing that he'd lost at least one of his good friends. None of this seemed real.

Ellie nodded weakly and forced a bitter, painful smile. As they approached her house, she turned back toward him sadly. "Uh…thanks for walking me home," she said as she wiped the tears from her cheaks.

"Of course..." He still didn't feel right leaving her alone. Especially now that he knew about Marco. "Are you sure you don't want to come back with me? You shouldn't be alone. You don't have to be"  
Ellie really just wanted to stay home alone and wallow in self pity, but she was touched by Jimmy's apparent concern. "I don't know. Jimmy. I am going to be sucky depresso girl, and I don't want to bring you down with me," she said, smiling slightly for the first time since…what happened. "I will call you if I need anything, though."

Somehow Jimmy didn't believe that she was planning to call him. She hadn't asked for his number, and he didn't think she just happened to have it memorized.

He frowned, pulling out his cell phone. "This has Craig's number, and Hazel's number programmed into it. If you're in trouble, try Craig's first. I think we're going to head over there to hole up until it's safe." He handed her the cell phone. He figured that now he'd also have a good excuse to come back and check on her later. "Or if you want, just come over to Craig's. Okay?"

"Okay. I will call if I run into any trouble," Ellie lied as she took the phone from him without even glancing at it. "If…if you happen to see Sean," she said, wincing nervously. "Tell him to call me, okay?"

Jimmy's frown deepened. It really just didn't seem right to leave Ellie alone, there. "Are you sure you don't want me to wait with you until he gets here?" Jimmy offered again. "I really don't think you should be alone," he added bluntly.

"Why not? You think that I am going to do something stupid?" she asked, suddenly defensive. "Like cut? You know just because everyone in school says that I do that, it doesn't make it true."

"Actually," he shot back, his temper flaring just a little, "it was more that there's a lot of…things out here, and I don't think it's safe for anyone to be alone." This was not the time to start an argument. "Look, Ellie. I know we're not really good friends, but I like you and I want to make sure that you're okay. We already lost a good friend tonight, and I don't want to lose another one."

"Okay, you're right," Ellie replied, looking down slightly. "I am sorry for being so defensive, Jimmy. Defense mechanism, I guess. I am just not used to people showing concern. Thanks for everything, but I really will be fine."

"It's all right. We're all just a little tense," he passed it off. It was all good. "Just please, you get in trouble, or you need anything, or even just want company, don't hesitate to call or come over to Craig's." He stepped back, but didn't leave just yet, wanting to make sure everything was okay when she went inside before he left.  
"I will, Jimmy, but I highly doubt that I will need to. I think that I should just be alone right now. I need to think about thing." Okay, so brood was a better word, but she doubted that would make him any more eager to leave her alone. "Good night," she dismissed him, closing the door.

Once inside, she took off her shoes and lay face down on the couch, burying her face into the cushion to muffle the sobs that she finally let wrack her body.

A/N: Written by: Serenity (Ellie/other), Chaos (Marco, Dylan, Jimmy/other), Daq (Spinner), Azaria (Paige). Many other characters available in the RPG (click on our profile link and hit the homepage to get to the yahoogroup website.)


	6. Uncomfortably Numb

One moment Marco felt nothing but numb, the next all feeling returned. He wasn't in pain, though. Just cold. Very very cold. But he could breathe again. Rather, he realized, he wasn't breathing, but it didn't matter that he wasn't. That was weird, but he wasn't going to complain; it hurt not being able to breathe. "Dylan, it's okay. I'm all right now," he told Dylan, seeing the striken face on his boyfriend's face. Dylan's expression doesn't change, other than for eyes to well up with tears.

And then Ellie was on top of Marco, blocking his view of Dylan.

"El, it's okay. I'm fine now," he whispered, wrapping his arm around her. Rather, he tried to. He yelped as his arm went right through her. What happened? He rolled onto his feet and looked down to see that she was still there. On top of…him. What was going on?

Marco watched for a few moments, completely stunned.

Dylan said that he was dead, but he couldn't be. He didn't feel dead. At least he didn't think he did. He'd never been dead before, so he guessed he couldn't say for sure, but really, he couldn't be dead. He had far too much yet to do. And Nana told him that he was to be part of the opposition of the darkness. How could he be if he was dead? He was just…knocked out of his body. That's all. He needed to get back to it.

Ellie said he wasn't dead, too. She said he'd be fine.

"Listen to her, I'm not dead!" Marco told Dylan, but he didn't reply. He only told Ellie that they needed to go. "No! Not yet! Don't leave me here," Marco protested. Fortunately Dylan agreed and announced that they would take him with them.

But then Ellie was leaving. Without Marco. He was torn whether to go with her or stay with Dylan and his body. He was afraid to be separated from it--what if he couldn't find his way back? But Ellie was so upset. She shouldn't be alone. Especially with all those things out there.

"Ellie, wait! Don't go!" he yelled after her. "Don't leave me!"

He started to go after her, panicking. He didn't want her out there alone to die. "Ellie, please!" He felt colder the farther he got from his body. It became almost unbearable, hurting as he went after her. But he had to. He couldn't let her die!

The solution came in the form of Jimmy Brooks. Marco stopped going after Ellie as he saw Jimmy go. He heard Jimmy agree to walk her home, so feeling a slight bit better, Marco returned to Dylan. He felt better the closer he got to his body, which Dylan had now gathered into his arms. Dylan was sobbing inconsolably. Marco tried to comfort him, but it was clear that Dylan could neither see nor hear him. Figuring that it would all just be okay if he could get back into his body, he tried to figure out how. But nothing seemed to work.

Jimmy watched Ellie go inside and even lingered for a minute or so longer, making sure that she didn't change her mind. But it became apparent that she wouldn't, and he needed to get back and make sure that everyone else was okay. He also realized that he needed to follow his own advice as he heard a scream from a few blocks away. Nobody should be out alone, including him. He turned and ran back to the school.

When he got there, he discovered that Hazel had awakened. She and Craig had located Ashley and they were trying to wake her up. When Hazel saw Jimmy, she lit up and jumped up to go to him. He hugged her, relieved that she was alright. But his mind was elsewhere. He looked over her shoulder and saw Dylan Michalchuk sitting on the gym floor clutching what Jimmy now knew to be Marco's body. Somebody should really go help him, Jimmy thought. Unfortunately, he wasn't sure that he would do much good; he barely knew the guy.

He kissed Hazel and released her from the hug. "We should get out of here. We'll go to Craig's, like we were going to for the after party," he started to organize. "Start getting everyone together," he directed before starting toward Dylan.

Marco was still trying when he saw Jimmy return. Without Ellie.

He left her alone!

Marco headed toward him, ignoring the cold that seeps in as he does. "Jimmy? Where's Ellie? Why'd you leave her?" But Jimmy didn't answer, he only hugged Hazel then turned and walked right through Marco. It felt something like having a thousand needles prick him all at once for just a moment, then just tickled. Marco didn't think it was a pleasant feeling at all. He shuddered and looked back toward Jimm.

Before Jimmy reached Dylan, he noticed Spinner and Paige off to the side and he went there instead. He didn't know Dylan, and Paige was a much better bet for being a comfort to him.

Marco couldn't believe Jimmy just left Ellie alone. He looked back at Dylan and wished there was some way that he could let Dylan know that he was okay. He should be able to get back in his body. He just needed a little help to do it. Right then, though, he was more concerned about Ellie being out there by herself.

He ignored the cold and headed to her apartment. He tried to knock on the door, but it didn't make a sound. So he tried to turn the knob, but his hand went right through it.

His hand could go through the door. Testing a theory, he did it again, this time stepping through. If Jimmy walking through him felt awful, walking through the door was a thousand times worse. He couldn't help but scream as the pain hit him. But just as quickly as the pain started, it was gone, and he found himself inside Ellie's apartment.

She was crying so hard.

Marco knelt down next to her. "Ellie, it's okay. I'm here," he whispered in her ear. "Shh..." he tried to soothe. It seemed to work. Either that or she had cried herself to sleep.

He sat back and watched her for a few minutes, unsure what he should do. He really needed to find a way back into his body, but he didn't even know how to start. And he couldn't even ask Ellie for help because she couldn't hear him. It was so frustrating! And he was so cold. He shivered as he sat against the couch, drawing his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them, huddling to try and warm up and to keep himself calm. "Please help me, Ellie," he asked softly, even though he knew she couldn't hear him. "I have to get back."

Ellie woke up after she wasn't sure how long she'd slept. It seemed as though her electric had been shut off. She sat up slowly and allowed her eyes to adjust to the pitch blackness that surrounded her. She could hear all sorts of creepy noises coming from outside…or perhaps a few inside.

She could have sworn that she heard someone say her name. She wiped away smeared mascara and sat up to listen closer. She found herself fumbling for Jimmy's phone in the dark as it occurred to her that it could be one of the creatures that attacked earlier. No, that didn't seem right somehow, she thought as she realized the voice was softer…more familiar.

She could barely make out a silhouette not far from where she sat, but she couldn't make out who it was. She could feel it though. She could feel him.

It took her a moment to speak. "Who's there?" she asked fearfully, knowing what her senses were telling her, but knowing that it was impossible.

Marco looked up as Ellie spoke. She sounded so afraid. He knew she couldn't hear him, so he listened, trying to figure out what she was hearing. He didn't hear anything, though, and she was looking straight toward him. "Ellie? You can't hear me, can you?" he asked, hoping that somehow she could.

Ellie jumped back when she heard his voice. "Whatever the hell you think you are doing, just stay away from me!" she shouted, suddenly very terrified. She grabbed Jimmy's phone and began searching it for Craig's number. She began to push buttons frantically and ended up dropping the phone because her hand was shaking so badly. She had to grab her wrist with her other hand to steady it. "You are dead…you can't be here," she said weakly as she backed away from him farther, slowly making her way toward the door.

"N-no! Ellie, it's okay; it's me!" Marco protested, scrambling to his feet. He didn't know how she couldh ear him, but if she could, she might be his only hope of getting back into his body. "Ellie, wait! Please. I'm not…I'm not dead." He stepped toward her, but she seemed so frightened that he stopped, frightened more for her safety than himself at the moment. "Please don't go out there, El. It's too dangerous."

"What are you?" she asked, staring at him, confused. She was preparing to run out the door if he took one more step near him. "If you come near me, I will run," she declared. She allowed her eyes to dart quickly to Jimmy's cell that was lying on the floor between them. If only she could reach it without having to walk closer to…whatever he was, she thought with a shudder. "How did you find me? How did you even get into my house?"

Marco backed away from her, hoping it would make her feel a little better. "I-I heard Jimmy tell you he would walk you home, so I came here…I don't know what I am. I can't get back into my body. Please, I need you to help me get back. It's cold…" He winced when he said that. He sounded like such a whiner…

Ellie wanted to run away from him, but there was something that kept her there. Maybe it was the fact that even though she didn't know what he was, he did look and sound just like her best friend. Besides that, he sounded just as confused as she felt. No way, though. It was just too much to take. First she lost her soulmate, then he suddenly appeared in her living room in the middle of the night. This was just too much to take. "Marco…is it really you?" she asked desperately wanting to believe yet at the same time far too scared to. She looked again at Jimmy's phone and quickly darted toward it, hoping he wouldn't try to stop her.

"Yeah, El. It's me. I swear it is." He felt terrible as he watched her grab for the phone. He didn't mean to scare her. He needed some way to assure her. "Just…ask me something only I would know. Or…if you want, I'll just go. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I just don't know where else to go. No one else can hear me."

In his voice, Ellie could hear the same sincerity and open emotion that she had come to love so well, and she believed him. It scared the hell out of her, but she believed him. She felt tears starting to fill her eyes again, but cautiously stepped toward him. She tried to speak, but her throat was too sticky to manage anything other than his name; half-sob, half-word. "You really are here," she said, smiling through more tears, when at last she could speak. "You didn't leave me after all?" She knew that the question was kind of pointless considering that he was standing in front of her, but a part of her…a very raw and emotional part of her, needed his confirmation.

Marco let out a relieved little laugh. "I'm here. I wouldn't leave. Not on purpose. I just…can't get back." He shivered again, but moved closer, not want wanting to scare her away, but wanting to comfort her. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

"I just can't believe that you're actually here," she said, suppressing a pained giggle with her hand. She slowly walked forward, one step at a time until she was right in front of him. "Do you remember anything? How you died? How you got here?"

"I'm not dead!" he insisted. "I don't know what happened, but I'm fine. I just can't get back into my body. That thing…it must have…thrown me out somehow. I just need help figuring out how to get back. It's…really cold here."

Ellie wanted to believe that too, so she could understand why he was in such denial. Maybe he really wasn't dead. "Marco, there has to be something that we can do. Tell me everything that you remember. Maybe it will help us think of something."

"I don't know. Just one moment I was lying there trying to breathe, and then I could but Dylan was saying I was dead. And I tried to tell him I wasn't--you knew I wasn't, you told him I was okay. But you guys couldn't hear me and my arm went right through Dylan when I tried to touch him, and then you left and I….I tried to get back into my body, but I don't know how. You have to help me," he babbled out quickly. All in one breath--if he had one.

"But how do I do that, Marco? I don't even know how it's possible that you're here." She stepped up to him completely and tried to take his hand, but felt a strange wind develop between their bodies that held her back. Marco slowly started to disappear s the wind howled all around them. She reached out more desperate now, trying to grab a hold of him. The wind only grew stronger. "Marco," she called to him, barely able to hear herself over the frantic sounds of the wind.

Marco stared at Ellie, horrified that they were so close, yet couldn't touch. He tried to reach for her, but couldn't breach the mere inch between them. He felt a strange discomfort and had to draw back to make it stop. He had to get back to his body--he couldn't live like this. "Ellie, please help me. I don't know how, but we have to figure it out. I can't live like this!" he cried out desperately, suddenly really needing physical contact. Ignoring the discomfort he tried to reach for her again.

Ellie screamed Marco's name, but it was barely audible over the sound of the wind that was tearing her away from him. She grew frustrated as her fingertips managed to slightly graze his as he vainly attempted to reach her as well. The sound reaches a deafening roar as everything around her went black and she suddenly found herself sitting up on the couch in a cold sweat with tears once again rolling down her face…and Marco was gone.

It took Ellie a moment to realize that it had been a dream. But it had felt so real! If it wasn't real, the phone would still be on the coffee table. It wasn't. Ellie threw back the covers from her feverish body and scrambled from the couch, and to the spot on the floor where she had dropped Jimmy's cell phone in her dream. Sure enough, it was right there. She picked it up and quickly pressed redial. It dialed Craig's number. She remembered calling to Craig's house when Marco first appeared. It couldn't have been a dream after all. She began to tremble violently as she realized that Marco must be trapped somehow. She had to find a way to help him. But first, she needed to talk to Jimmy.

All at one the wind stopped and Marco fell forward, but Ellie wasn't right in front of him anymore. Instead she was scrambling for the phone. He narrowed his eyes in confusuion. "Ellie?"

Ellie didn't answer him, so he tried again. "Ellie?" He reached out to try and touch her, bracing himself for the wind. But it doesn't come. Instead his hand went right through her. It felt all prickly and he jerked his hand back quickly. No. Don't do this to me, he thought. This is just like with Dylan and he couldn't hear me. Couldn't see me. "Ellie, please! I know you can hear me!"

Ellie shivered violently as she waited for Craig to answer. How did it get so cold in the house all of a sudden? she wondered. Just twenty seconds ago, she felt like she was burning up.

Craig's cell phone was ringing. "It's the freaking apocalypse and Joey's still calling me to find out why I'm late for curfew?" he griped. They were on their way to his place now, a whole lot of survivors from the school.

He pulled his cell phone out and checked the display.

Jimmy? Craig raised his eyebrow and looked over to make sure that he wasn't hallucinating that Jimmy was walking only a few feet away from him. Jimmy was indeed there, which made this call really bizarro. Like Twilight Zone even. Given what had happened that night, though, he was betting that The Zone was real.

All right, then. He answered the phone. "Hello?"

When Craig answered his phone, Ellie had no idea what to say to him. "Um...It's Ellie Nash. I need to talk to Jimmy. Now Craig! Please?"

Ellie's calling Jimmy these days? Craig raised his eyebrows a little, but handed the phone to Jimmy anyway.

Marco saw Ellie shudder as he tried to touch her. Why was she acting like that? A minute ago, she was fine and talking to him, now she was ignoring him and acting like it's horrible just to be near him. "Ellie, please don't don this," He begged her, trying again to reach out to her.

Jimmy saw his own name on the display and was immediately concerned. "Ellie? Is everything okay?" he asked. It was a stupid question, he realized immediately. "Do you need me to come over?"

When Ellie heard Jimmy's voice, she instantly lost her well-established self control. She started crying and for at least a minute she couldn't speak. "Jimmy, I am scared," she admitted when she could get the words out. "Could you please come over here now?" She hung up the phone without saying another word. She was just too shaken up and didn't want to make Jimmy think that she was completely psycho before he came.

"I've got to get to Ellie's. I think she's in trouble," Jimmy told Craig quickly, shoving the phone back at him. Jimmy took off running back toward Ellie's apartment.

"Okay, so maybe Ellie really can't hear me," Marco thought. "Surely she wouldn't just keep ignoring me like this when I'm about a hair away from having a total nervous breakdown. So maybe…maybe I can talk to her some other way."

He spotted the phone message pad and hurried over to it, trying to pick up the pen. It didn't work. He couldn't pick it up--it seemed like he was so cold that he couldn't close his fingers on it.

Getting more frustrated, he looked for something else. Anything. But he couldn't pick anything up. It all just slid through his fingers.

"Ellie, please tell me you can hear me," he begged again, trying to talk to her. When it was apparent that she couldn't he started to lose it.

He tried one more time to grab the pen from the table, but was so reckless with frustration that he knocked into the table itself. He didn't know how, but somehow he did make a connection and the table tipped onto its side, throwing the pen, notepad, and phone to the ground.

"Oops. Sorry!" he apologized quickly and bent down to pick it all up. Except that he couldn't grab it! He let out a frustrated yell and just went to flop down on the couch, fuming for a few minutes.

Ellie looked up when the table suddenly fell over. There was only one explanation. She picked everything up and set the table back upright. "Marco," she said, more a statement than a question. "I can't see you, but I know that you're here. I promise that I will do whatever it takes to help you." She stopped crying and decided that she needed to toughen up if she was going to keep that promise. She walked over to the couch and sat down, feeling incredibly cold once again. She picked up her discarded blanket and huddled up on the couch as she waited for Jimmy. Now all she had to do was convince him that she wasn't insane when she told him that Marco was still there.

When Ellie told him that she was going to help him, Marco's foul mood lessened. He was still cold, though, and scooted closer to her on the couch, wanting to borrow part of the blanket. Unfortunately, he couldn't seem to grasp it. Rather than frustrate himself further, her sighed and gave up, hugging his knees to his chest hoping to lessen the chill.


	7. Bitter Pill to Swallow

Jimmy ran up the steps to Ellie's apartment ready to burst through the door and rescue her. Not hearing anything horrible happening inside, though, he decided that protocol should be followed and instead he knocked and called out, "Ellie? Is everything okay in there?"

Purely out of habit, Marco got up to open the door. Unfortunately, he was unable to grasp the knob. He began fuming again, annoyed at his inability to do even simple things. He just needed to find some place to sit and not move. If he didn't move, maybe he not being able to touch anything would stop PISSING him off…

When Ellie heard Jimmy, she jumped up as fast as she could and threw the door open. "Jimmy, come in. I need your help badly."

"Of course. What's going on?" he asked, really concerned. He looked around but saw no sign of attack or anything.

"Jimmy, Marco was here. I know that sounds completely crazy, but it's true. We have to help him, Jimmy. He is so scared he needs us."

Jimmy frowned with concern. "Ellie, Marco's…dead," he told her carefully, even though he knew she already knew that. She was the one who'd told him first. And since then he'd seen the body to prove it.

"I am not dead," Marco grumbled crossly, folding his arms across his chest and scowling at Jimmy.

"Jimmy, he is here. In this house. Right now. I talked to him and he said that he wasn't dead. I don't see him now, but…that doesn't make it not true. He was here. I am sure of it. Don't you believe me?"

Jimmy gently took her arm and led her over to the couch. "Ellie, I'm sorry, but…I've seen his body. There's no way he's still…" he shook his head, peering at her with concern. "Why don't you sit down. I'll get you some water." He noticed the blanket on the couch and thought that perhaps he had the answer. "You don't think you might have fallen asleep maybe?" he asked gently.

Marco went to Jimmy, trying to control his temper. "Jimmy. I'm right here. I'm alive. You have to believe her!"

Jimmy's eyes narrowed as he felt unnaturally cold.

Ellie grew frantic. "No, Jimmy. He was here. I swear it!" She found herself on the verge of tears again, hating herself for it, but not able to control it. "Why won't you believe me? He isn't dead! He was here!" She tried to calm down before she convinced him that she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Jimmy cautiously put his arms around her to comfort her. It felt a bit awkward since he wasn't really a good friend, but he was Marco's good friend and he knew that Marco would want him to be there for her. "Ellie, Marco wouldn't want you to be so upset."

Marco's scowl deepened. "What would you know?" he snapped.

But Jimmy continued, "He was hurt really badly, Ellie. If he had lived...I think it's for the best that he didn't have to suffer."

"What do you call this?" Marco asked, getting angrier.

"He'd want you to let go," Jimmy concluded gently.

Marco's eyes widened in panic. She couldn't 'let go' he needed her help! "No, Ellie don't listen!" Marco shoved Jimmy away from her and was startled as it actually worked. He chewed his lip guiltily as Jimmy fell backward. "I'm sorry!" he winced, feeling awful. He didn't even know why his temper was so out of control. He wasn't like this. But he was cold. And scared. And Jimmy was trying to kill him! Maybe not knowingly, but in effect!

Jimmy looked around, more than a little spooked. One moment he was hugging Ellie, the next he'd landed on his butt, and he had no idea why he'd fallen. It was like a huge gust of wind had suddenly hit him. "What…was that?" he asked, shivering from the chill in the air.

"Are you okay?" Ellie asked, leaning down to help him up. "You are probably right. It's most likely just…wishful thinking. It just felt so real!" She threw his arms around Jimmy's shoulders, desperately needing comfort.

Marco shook his head feeling just as desperate if not more. "No, don't listen to him. It's not wishful thinking. I'm right here!"

"I just don't know what to do now that he's gone. Every second that passes…it gets harder to breathe. I just want to go to sleep…so that I don't have to think about it. But everytime I close my eyes, I see him die all over again. What do I do?"

Marco felt worse as he listened to her admit what she was feeling. He wanted so bad to comfort her. At the same time he wanted to yell at her for giving up on him. "I'm not gone. I'm right here," he insisted again, wanting to cry but no tears would come at all. He was just left with the extremely unsatisfying feeling of being on the verge of tears.

Jimmy hugged Ellie harder. "I know. It's going to hurt. We're all going to miss him. He was…an amazing person. But he wouldn't want you to hurt. He'd want you to let him go. Move on. Remember him the way he was, not….what happened to him."

Marco shook his head again. "Please, Ellie, don't give up on me," he pleaded, moving closer, encircling her with his harms, though he couldn't quite touch her.

Ellie shook her head sadly, pulling back slightly. "You're right. I need to let him go. I just don't know how. He' was everything to me. He was my best friend. My soulmate. He was…my sun. The center of my universe and my entire world revolved around him," she paused briefly, feeling horribly empty as she admitted this. "Would you mind staying for a little while? I am just really scared to be alone right now."

Marco felt warmed by her words, which was amazing considering the intensely bitter cold. "Oh, El…you were mine, too," he murmured, once again feeling the annoying sensation of needing to cry but not being able to do so. He wanted to take away her pain. He wished he could tell her how much she meant to him as well. "I'm still here, El. I promise I won't leave you. Ever. Just don't give up on me." I tried to lay his head on her shoulder, keeping his arms around her. The lack of real contact only made him feel depressed. Why was it that he could somehow shove Jimmy, but he couldn't simply hug his best friend?

"Of course I will," Jimmy agreed, though he found himself sneaking a peek at his watch. He really did want to be there for Ellie, but he felt guilty that he'd just left Hazel hanging. Ellie needed him more, though, and Hazel had others with her. He'd call her a little later to check in.

He shivered as the cold seemed to surround them. He stooped down and picked up Ellie's blanket to wrap around her. "Want me to make some coffee or hot cocoa or something?" he suggested as he tucked it around her.

"That sounds great, Jimmy. Thank you so much for staying. I know that I'm not exactly the most pleasant person to be around when I'm like this…or ever." She closed her eyes and sighed. "Are you sure that you don't mind being here? I don't want to keep you if you're busy or something."

Jimmy smiled at her, though he was concerned about her comment. "I don't mind at all. You shouldn't be alone. And you've been through some bad things," he searched for the right thing to say. "You don't have to be 'Miss Congeniality' all the time for people to like you. You're okay, Ellie Nash. Otherwise would Marco have adored you?" he took a chance with that, knowing it was a gamble to bring him up. It could make her feel better, or might completely backfire and make her more upset.

Ellie sighed. "Yeah, I know. It's just that I have a tendency to depress people. Sometimes I'm too intense for people to handle." She smiled wistfully. "But that never bothered Marco." She looked down sadly. "He just got me, you know? I don't think that anyone will ever understand me like he did." She looked up imploringly. "Tell me something. Something that you remember about him. Something that I never knew."

Jimmy had to think. Ellie'd spent so much time with Marco that he wasn't sure he did know anything that she wouldn't know. But he still laughed as he thought of the night that Marco and Spinner were over at his place shortly after Marco came out. Spinner was being a total idiot as always. He smiled as he told Ellie about that night. How Marco had gone out of his way to help Spinner even though he was being a complete jerk. And then Spinner's near death by popcorn. "So there Spin was totally choking and Marco's literally having to chase him to try and save his life..." Jimmy trailed off, only now starting to really feel the impact of Marco being gone. "There Spin was being a total creep to him and he still went out of his way to help him. That was totally Marco..." He looked over at Ellie. "How about you? What are you going to remember best about him?"

"God, there is just so much. It would take all night to sum up everything that I will remember...and miss. My favorite thing about him was his humanity. He just cared so much. He had a kind of passionate energy that just transcends everything." She became pensive. "Transcends time even. I still remember when we were at Ashley's house one night. It was shortly after me and him first started 'going out'. When he followed me upstairs to the bathroom and confessed that he might be gay. He was so confused...so scared. Towards the end, he had just come such a long way. You could look at him, and not even believe that he was still the same person that he was a year ago. He became so comfortable with who he was. I am really going to miss him," She said sadly, fighting back tears yet again.

"No, you won't. Because I'm right here," Marco reminded her, even though he know by then that she couldn't hear him. He smiled, though, at the things they were saying about him.

Hugging Ellie again, Jimmy nodded. "We all will. But he'd want us to remember him as the bright and brave guy we knew him as, not grieve." He also couldn't help but wonder if maybe Marco was the lucky one in this scenario. He'd died, but he'd had his best friend and his boyfriend right by his side, and it happened fast. With all the…things going on, Jimmy wasn't so sure that the rest of them weren't going to just have a lot of suffering before they all were killed off. One by one. He quickly released Ellie from his embrace, hoping his pessimism didn't show. But he wanted to get out of there before he said anything depressing. She didn't need his fears added to her own. "Now I'm going to get that cocoa. I'll be right back."

He showed himself to the kitchen and started looking for the ingredients. While the milk was heating, he called Hazel just to let her know where he was and why.

"Jimmy, you might see if maybe Ellie could come here. I'm scared and I miss you. And…I think we need someone to help with Dylan. He's really upset."

"Okay...I'll see if she's up for it. I'll call you back in a bit." He hung up the phone as the hot cocoa finished heating and he took a couple mugs back out to Ellie. "Here," he offered one of the mugs to her.

"Thanks," she accepted the cup from him. "I think that I'm just going to go back to sleep now," she said after a few minutes. "I think that is the best thing for me to do now." Forever, but I don't say that out loud. "You can go back to your girlfriend now. I don't want to hold you up."

"You're not holding me up," he replied, sipping his own cocoa. "I'll stay for a while. Hazel's fine. She's over at Craig's with everyone." I almost suggested to her what Hazel wanted me to, but she really looked exhausted. When she woke up, then maybe I'd suggest she go talk to Dylan. They're the two who were closest to Marco and it seemed logical that they could help each other cope.

Ellie nodded, laying down and covering up tightly, trying to rid herself of the icy chill that continued to surround her. She yawned and closed her eyes. "Do you think that maybe it is at all possible that Marco really is still alive? Maybe not here, but…somewhere. Maybe in some other time, he is still alive and we're all still safe and happy. There is nothing hunting us down and trying to kill us and burn our world…" the second the words are out of my mouth I realize just how absurd this whole thing really sounds. "Maybe I'll just go to sleep and when I wake up I will realize that I dreamed all of this. I will wake up and go to school. Then I'll find Marco and tell him about this insane dream that I had…" she trailed off as she feel to sleep.

Jimmy smiled sadly at her suggestion, wishing that he believed this were all a dream. He was sure that if it were, though, he'd have made himself wake up by then. "I'm sure he's out there," he told her, even though it was clear she was no longer hearing. "Somewhere reserved for the best of us."

Marco smiled bitterly at that idea. He would like to think that if he were dead, it wouldn't be anything like this. He turned back to Ellie, kneeling by her. He let his hand hover over her, and went through the motions of stroking her hair. "I promise, El, someday you'll be able to tell me all about it. We'll be able to laugh about how you all thought I was dead and…I swear, El, I'm going to figure this out and get back to you."

Ellie's eyes opened, she wasn't sure how long she'd slept. She scanned the room frantically. "Jimmy?" she called groggily.

"I think he's asleep," Marco informed her out of habit, motioning over to the chair where Jimmy was dozing lightly. He sighed, remembering that she couldn't hear him.

Ellie stood up and stretched for a moment, then walked over to the kitchen and opened the drawer where she kept her prescription aspirins. Her head was starting to hurt again from earlier. She turned on the water and filled a glass. After taking a few pills, she stared at the bottle, thinking again of Marco.

She was supposed to stop what happened. That was why she set up the chemicals and sent him after Jimmy and Hazel. But that hadn't worked. "Maybe the vision was trying to tell me that in order for Marco to live, I had to die," she thought, knowing it sounded totally insane, but…it was a possibility.

She reopened the bottle.She couldn't live without him anyway, so would it really matter if it didn't work, she asked herself as her thoughts went to a very dark place. She supposed it really wasn't surprising considering the darkness that was now sweeping over the town…maybe even the world. Did she really want to be around to witness all the rest of her friends getting killed? Especially when the one person who kept her strong was gone? She fought back more tears again. It seemed that she was doing that a lot lately.

Marco had believed enough in the 'mission' to die for it, so what made this any different? She felt ashamed of herself for not being strong enough to continue his fight, but she just couldn't fathom another day without him. Especially when the whole world was so fucked up. She looked back over to Jimmy and noticed that he was still sound asleep.

"Marco," she called out to the empty room. "If you really can hear me now, I just want to apologize for this. I know that it isn't what you would want, but it is the only thing that I can do. I love you." She picked up the bottle and glass and walked into the bathroom, locking the door in case Jimmy woke up.

When she got there, she started thinking about how crazy this idea really was. It wasn't her. She wasn't suicidal. What was she doing? Then she remembered the way Marco had looked when he'd died. She remembered how upset Dylan was. She remembered every detail and the pain washed over her again, just as fresh as it had been when it happened. She looked into the mirror and studied her disheveled appearance. She wasn't really sure if she could go through with it, but she knew that if it actually worked, she would be able to escape the grief that was weighing her down every second. She opened the bottle and poured a small amount into her mouth. She drank from the glass and poured a few more pills in, repeating the process until she felt too sick to stand any more without vomiting.

Marco stared wide eyed. No!

When she'd apologized to him, he'd gotten up and followed her. Locked doors couldn't keep him out. "Ellie stop!" he cried out as she started taking the pills. "No! Don't!" he felt like he was about to burst from the pressure of the tears that want to but can't be spilled. He was so upset by what she was doing, but was powerless to stop it. He tried to grab the bottle away from her, but his hands only went straight threw it. He grew frantic. Why? Why could he throw some things, but now when he really needed he couldn't grab that stupid little bottle?

Desperate, he ran back to Jimmy, unhindered by the door. It still felt icky going through walls and doors like that, but at a time like this, he didn't care. "Jimmy! Wake up! You have to help Ellie. Please, do something! I can't!" Marco yelled at the sleeping boy, but Jimmy didn't respond. Marco tried to shake him, but his hands went right through.

Marco hated this! He hated himself for not being able to do anything! He rushed back to the bathroom and was horrified to see that she'd almost finished the whole bottle. He was so angry at himself for being so useless that he slammed his fist against the mirror, somehow shattering it. He stared at it for a few moments in frustration, then yelled out in frustration, grabbing again for the bottle. This time, he managed to hurl it across the bathroom effortlessly. It was too late, though. The damage had already been done. Ellie was already in deep trouble.

He had to do something. But there was nothing to do! He had to figure out how to get Jimmy's attention. Turning to go back to the other room, he found himself in a helpless rage. He slammed into the bathroom door, which instead of letting him walk through it suddenly was offering resistance. Not now! He slammed himself against it harder, furious now. The rusted hinges splintered from the door and it fell, crashing to the ground. He blinked and stood back, unsure how he'd done that.

"What was that," Ellie asked, not sure if she was dreaming again or not.

Jimmy woke to the sound of a large crash. He was on his feet immediately, tense and expecting the worst. "Ellie?" he called out, looking around wildly for her.

"Jimmy, over here," Marco called to him frantically.

Jimmy noticed the bathroom door had been torn off its hinges and rushed to examine it. Instead, though, he spotted Ellie, standing in the bathroom looking extremely pale.

"Ellie? What happened?" He looked around the bathroom for a clue.

"Look down," Marco hissed in Jimmy's ear, frustrated that he hadn't figured it out. He grabbed at Jimmy's head and tried to force him to look down.

Jimmy felt dreadfully cold as something seemed to force him to look down. Maybe it was just instinct, though it felt almost physical. He spotted a pill bottle lying on the ground and looked up, startled. "Ellie, you didn't…"

"What do you want?" she asked sickly. "I didn't do anything," she said as a sudden wave of dizziness washed over her and she sat on the floor next to the sink. "Just go away. I'm fine," she whispered weakly.

"No. You're not!" he picked up the discarded bottle. "The pills, Ellie. How many did you take?" He gaped at her for a moment then realized he really didn't need her to say. He already knew the answer. Too many. She'd taken too many. "You need to throw up. We have to get them out."

"No. I don't want to," she mumbled. "I don't want you stopping me. That is why I locked the door." She looked at the door and noticed for the first time that it was kinda missing. "What did you do with the door?" she asked highly confused.

"Sorry," Marco apologized sheepishly, though he wasn't really. It got the help she needed. Once he was back in his body, he'd come back and fix it. Or get Dylan to, maybe.

"I didn't do anything to the door. You did that…didn't you?" It really didn't matter. "You need to throw up, El. Do it or I'm calling an ambulance." Which he should really do, anyway, he realized, though he suspected the ambulance services were extremely busy tonight. And a suicide attempt would probably be down on their priority list. Jimmy gripped Ellie under her arms and maneuvered her over to the toilet. He held her hair back.

"Come on, El. You need to do what he says. I want you to live," Marco whispered stroking her hair.

When Jimmy mentioned the ambulance, Ellie began to panic. "No ambulances, please," she begged brokenly. "I just want to sleep for a little while. Then I will do whatever you want, okay? I just need to sleep." She was starting to have trouble holding her head up, so she lay down on the floor to keep from falling. She could feel her eyes drifting shut involuntarily. "It's so hot in here," she whispered weakly. "Could someone open a window?"

"No, Ellie, you can't sleep!" Jimmy tried again to lift her, but then realized he wasn't going to be able to do this on his own. She needed an ambulance. Now. "Okay, Ellie, hang on. Don't fall asleep on me," he hurried back to the other room, grabbing his cell phone. Despite his suspicions that it would do no good, he dialed 9-1-1.

It just kept ringing.

A/N: Hope you're enjoying the story so far (okay it's a bit dark, but hey.) The following authors have contributed to the past two chapters: Marco, Jimmy, Craig, and other characters as needed by Chaos and Ellie by Serenity.


	8. Dreaming is a contact sport

"Jimmy! Don't leave her!" Marco cried out exasperatedly as he watched Jimmy do exactly that. He left her. Again. He promised he watch over her and then fell asleep. Now see what happened? He wrapped himself around Ellie, wishing there was something--anything--that he could do. He'd give his life for her. "Ellie, please hang on. You can't die." He closed his eyes and tried to imagine that somehow he could absorb the pills from her system, or pass his strength on to her so that she could fight the poisonous levels in her system. "You have to live, Ellie," he begged her.

Ellie was having trouble remembering where she was for some reason. She opened her eyes and realized that she was lying in a field of flowers. She had the brief thought that there was a bomb somewhere, but she could feel Marco standing above her so she wasn't worried. She looked up at him, but the sun is in her eyes and she had to squint. He smiled down at her and reached out his hand. She sensed danger, but everything was so peaceful there that she just wanted to lay back down and ignore it. But Marco was still waiting for her to take his hand and he was no longer smiling. He looked…serene but impatient. She closed her eyes and basked in the warmth of the sun. She could hear Marco calling her name at first faintly, but it started to sound louder and much closer by the second.

She opened her eyes to find that he was still waiting for her to take his hand. She didn't want to go back. She felt so happy and safe. But she knew that he was trying to lead her back. Away from the bomb and the flowers. If braving the fire meant staying here, with him, she wasn't afraid. She told him that with her thoughts, and miraculously he understood. But he only shook his head and extended his hand farther. He knew that she didn't want to leave him, but tells her with his thoughts this time that the choice was hers, but that she'd be cheating by being here and that if she didn't go back, she would lose. Whatever that meant. He told her that she would understand in time.

She hesitantly reached out and took his hand, allowing hin to lift her from the warm ground. As soon as she stood, she was blinded by a bright white light and was no longer holding Marco's hand. Instead she was lying on a cold bathroom floor and everything hurt. And she remembered. "Jimmy," she called out weakly.

"Please, Ellie, choose to live," Marco had begged her, offering his strength and to take some of her pain. He was relieved as she accepted his offer. He wasn't sure why it worked, but he could feel it as his strength seemed to drain from him. He felt increasingly weak and sick. He collapsed to the floor beside her, feeling colder than ever. But he didn't care because as he lay beside her, her eyes opened and she weakly called for Jimmy. She was going to make it.

Jimmy could hear Ellie calling and rushed back to her, still hanging on the line. The ambulance hadn't answered. He knew that they must be incredibly busy, but he still thought that they would at least answer the emergency line.

Jimmy knelt down next to Ellie, gathering her into his arms. "I'm here, Ellie. Hang on. I'm trying to get a doctor on the phone. How can I help?"

Ellie realized that she was trembling violently and snuggled closer to Jimmy's body for warmth. "He made the sun go away. And the flowers…and the bomb. They're all gone now. It's just so cold again…" She made a realization and looked around the room frantically, becoming more alert. "Where'd he go? He was just here? He led me away from the flowers."

Marco felt so sick. But like he couldn't cry, he also couldn't get sick. He was glad he'd helped somehow, but now he just wanted to curl up and die for real. He closed his eyes and curled up into a little ball on the bathroom floor. He didn't regret saving Ellie, not in the slightest, but it was still the most miserable he'd ever felt in his whole life.

"Who did?" Jimmy tried to make sense of Ellie's words. He could tell she was running a fever and figured that she was probably hallucinating. Oddly, she looked a whole lot better than she did only a few minutes ago. He decided to hold on the line for a doctor, but he felt at least a slight bit better about her condition anyway. "Come on, let's get you to bed, okay? Put your arms around my neck."

Ellie did as instructed, but she didn't let the question go unanswered. "Marco," she stated calmly. "Marco was here. He brought be back." She giggled slightly at Jimmy's confused expression. "Where did he go? I accidentally let go of his hand when we crossed the light. We must have gotten separated. I need to find him."

Jimmy winced as he heard what she was telling him. He slid his arm under her knees and lifted her from the ground, carrying her into her bedroom. He wondered if it was real. What she saw. A near death experience. It made sense that Marco would be the one waiting for her…leading her back. Jimmy wanted to believe her that that's what happened. He smiled as he set her on the bed and pulled the blanket up to her chin. "Marco brought you back because he loves you. But he needed to go," he told her, tucking her in gently. "But he'll always be here to watch over you."

Ellie tried to sit back up but she was having trouble getting her limbs to obey her brain. "No," she stated. "You don't understand. I have to find him. He needs me. I have to find him." She trailed off, having no clue how to make him understand. She shook her head sadly. "Marco did love me. He was the only one who ever really did…the right way at least." She looked up at Jimmy. "Where is everyone?" She realized it had nothing to do with anything else she'd just said, but she wasn't thinking quite straight. "Are they all dead?"

"No!" Jimmy quickly quashed that idea fast. "No, they're at Craig's. They were going to have an after party there…" It seemed so long ago that they were all celebrating Homecoming. "We thought it'd make a good place to stay until it's safe to go home. Our parents would know where to find us and everything," he smiled sadly. "Um…if you're feeling up to it, we really should go there. Hazel said…well…Dylan's not handling it very well. I think it'd really help if you'd talk to him." Maybe they could help each other. They were the ones who were closest to him, they could maybe find solace in each other's company.

"And what am I supposed to say to him Jimmy? Tell him about my failed attempt at suicide? Somehow I don't think that I am in any position to cheer anyone up."

Jimmy winced at the mention of suicide, knowing that he shouldn't have brought up Dylan, either. "No. I'm sorry. I just thought…maybe you could help each other. I'm sorry. It was a dumb idea. But we should still go there. There's safety in numbers."

"No, it's okay. I just don't think that I can do much for him when I am such a emotional wreck myself. I don't know about going to where the others are. I feel really safe here. Besides, Sean could come home any minute and I don't want him worrying about where I am."

Jimmy nodded, though he wasn't sure how safe he felt there. It was a little creepy how cold it was. And the thing with the bathroom door…

But it was clear now that he couldn't leave Ellie by herself. He'd wait for Sean to come home. "All right. How are you feeling?" he asked, still concerned about the large number of pills she'd swallowed, despite the way she seemed to be pretty much fine now.

"Better then I did ten minutes ago," she replied bluntly. "Especially now that I know seeing Marco earlier wasn't a dream. He is here," she said, convinced. "In this house. Now I just have to figure out a way to help him. It might also help if I could contact him whenever I need to."

"Ellie...I..." Jimmy didn't know what to say. Maybe it was okay that she believed Marco was here. If it made her feel better, for now he'd play along. "Okay. Do you have any idea how?" If only Terri were there. Jimmy remembered she was really into things like that.

Ellie stared off into space pensively. "I don't know exactly," she said hesitantly. "It's not like I know a lot about these sorts of things." She thought for a moment. "But there has to be somebody who does. Like a gypsy. Or a medium." She stood up suddenly and nearly lost her balance. She walked across the room and grabbed Sean's coat. "There is bound to be some kind of metaphysical shop around here somewhere," she said as she pulled out the phonebook and started looking. "3 Faces of the Moon. Gems, incense, books and candles," she read from one of the ads. "311 N McArthur. We need to go there now," she informed Jimmy. "Even if most places have closed, I doubt the impending apocalypse has scared these people away," she said, not really sure what to call them.

Jimmy was doubtful, but Ellie seemed to think it was a good idea, and he wasn't inclined to upset her any more. "All right. That's not far from here. We'll go."

Could this day get any weirder?

"Good, let's go," Ellie smiled, relieved that he wasn't arguing with the idea.

When they got to the shop, Ellie stared intently at the moon shaped sign above the small two story building. She opened the door and the sound of wind chimes echoed around her. The scent of sage filled her senses. She realized why when she walked through the door and a lady in a long flower dress waved a burning stick of it around our bodies, letting the smoke drift over our clothes. I could see all sorts of gems and crystals under glass cases. There was also a lot of star and moon shaped jewelry. And lots of books, Ellie noticed immediately. Everything was kind of unusual, but also pretty and definitely intriguing, she mentally noted. She picked up a book on Eastern mythology and started thumbing through it.

Jimmy felt his question had been answered. It could and had gotten weirder.

"Is there anything I can help you find tonight? A nice protection crystal perhaps?" Madam Annalise asked as she looked over her new customers.

Ellie looked nervously to Jimmy. "Um…we need information. We sort of have this problem with our friend. He…uh…he sorta died and I think that he is trapped somehow. Like maybe a ghost? Or something?" she answered hesitantly, not sure how to explain the situation.

Mme Annalise smiled sympathetically at her. "I suppose I don't need to ask if it was sudden. May I ask why you believe he is trapped?"

"Well, I fell asleep and I saw him. He was scared and confused. He didn't want to believe that he was dead. I know that you probably think that it was just a dream, but I know that it wasn't. I woke up and the phone was in the floor right where I had dropped it when I saw him. And weird things have been happening all night. Doors and mirrors breaking suddenly." Ellie trailed off slightly. "He needs my help, but I don't know what to do for him. He just died a few hours ago, and I don't really have any sort of experience with this kind of thing," she said getting slightly hysterical. "You have to help us," she added a little calmer and glanced toward Jimmy, knowing that he was probably just as confused as she was.

Doors and mirrors breaking? That did not sound particularly good to Mme Annalise. But it did make her believe that this girl was correct about her friend. She also didn't believe that she was making it up--not on a night like tonight.

"There are a few reasons why someone may stay here after they die. Usually it happens when they die suddenly, unexpectedly. They may not realize that they are in fact dead, as you say your friend may not. In many cases, they will still cross over, but in cases like your friend...there is something that is keeping him here. Something he feels strongly enough about that he refuses to leave." She looked Ellie and her friend over carefully. "Was this your...boyfriend?" she asked carefully, hoping that she would not offend the boy with her.

Ellie shook her head. "No. Just my best friend," she replied, biting her lip. Just her best friend? That was like saying that this was just the worst night of her life. That she had just tried to swallow a fist of pills. That Paris Hilton was just the worst thing for kids since the Ebola virus. "He was my everything," she added on, feeling a lot more true to life.

Bless her heart, poor dear. Her pain is obvious. "Did he feel the same?" Mme Annalise asked carefully. "I don't want to pry, but most often when someone will not pass on it is because they do not want to leave someone they love. Especially if they are worried about this person."

That would be Marco all right. Jimmy wasn't sure he bought any of this, though. "You're saying that Marco really could still be here?" he asked, doubtful. "It doesn't seem like him, though. Marco's really not…the sort to break things." Of course the door would probably have been because of Ellie and what she was doing. He was probably trying to get her help. He raised his eyebrows considering. "So if he is here, and he's worried about Ellie…it could be a good thing, right?" It'd be nice to know that he's looking out for her.

"It depends." Mme Annalise suspected that in this case it was not a good thing. She looked at Ellie. She'd described her friend as being confused and scared. Unwilling to believe he was dead. And the broken mirror and door pointed to the spirit being angry. "When you saw him...did you notice the temperature at all?"

"It has been unusually cold in the house tonight," Ellie answered, just now starting to connect the two. "You don't think that could have anything to do with it, do you," she asked, a little worried about where this was going.

Mme Annalise nodded, giving her a sympathetic look. "I'm afraid this is not my area of expertise, but I will tell you what I can. And you may find this book helpful..." She walked to the shelves and looked for the book she was thinking of. Poltergeists by Breanna Ravenwolf. She pulled it from the shelf and handed it to Ellie. "From what I understand, there are different types of spirits that walk the earth. Some, like your friend, are not meant to remain. For this type...it often grows more uncomfortable the longer they remain. Their world is very cold, and often quite dark. They cannot touch or be touched. Even the kindest soul can become quite...unstable under these conditions. Usually if they do find a way to interact with our world, it is through acts of anger or rage."

"Well, there hasn't been any violent activity in the house. I don't sense any anger or rage. Could he be another kind of spirit perhaps? Just tell me how to help him? How can I reach him?"

Jimmy glanced at Ellie, wondering if she noticed the door being ripped off its hinges. Or the broken mirror. Or…I wondered if that's what happened when I fell earlier. She was right that it didn't sound like Marco, though. He really wasn't the angry sort.

"It's possible, but from what you describe..." Mme Annalise decided to let it go at that, not wanting to upset the poor child any further. "It depends on why he has stayed behind how you can help. As I mentioned before, the most common cause for a spirit to remain when they are not intended to, it is because they are very worried about someone that they love. Sometimes they just need to know that those they leave behind will be okay. Once they know, they can move on in peace. As far as reaching him...that can be a very dangerous endeavor. Remember that while the spirit may be a good one, it may be very unstable due to the circumstances and the conditions it is remaining under. There are a few ways in which you can make contact. It is said that while you are in a dream state that often spirits can make contact. Or there are those who are blessed with the gift of being able to contact the deceased. And there are spells that can assist, though it is very powerful majick and not to be toyed with without a lot of consideration of the consequences. And of course there are those who swear by these," she motioned toward the Ouija Boards.

"All of those sound great, but none of them actually sound doable. I need something that will definitely work and that... wait a second, you said dream state right. Is there any other way that I can reach that? And if I were to make contact with him, how could I find out what to do to help him when he doesn't even know himself?"

"Well, again there are several things you could try, but I'd have to venture that the best way for you would be through hypnosis. As for finding out what to do to help him...You said that he didn't want to accept that he was dead. Find out why he doesn't. If that doesn't help, think about this: Of all the people he could have chosen to follow or try to contact, he has picked you. Find out why, and you'll likely find out the reason he's not crossed over."

"Okay. That sounds good. You said that a spell could help me contact him. Do you know of any books in here that might have a suitable one? I know that it could be dangerous, but I have to help him."

Jimmy couldn't believe Ellie was buying into this spell stuff, but if it kept her from trying to hurt herself again, it was worth it, he decided.

"I think this may have what you're looking for," Mme Annalise returned to the shelves and did a little searching to find it. Pulling it from the shelf she thumbed through the index until she found what she was looking for. "Here. Page 27..." She handed Ellie the book.

Ellie took the book and looked at the spell closer.

TO CONFER WITH ONE WHO HAS PASSED AWAY (while asleep)

Needed:

1 white household candle(Indian Spirit 7-day candle can also be used)

Spirit Oil

A picture of the deceased

Lavender in a small natural cotton or muslin bag

Light the white candle that has been anointed with spirit oil and

stare at the flame for a few minutes. Then put the picture at eye level and

say:

"You are gone forever but your wisdom lives on;

With this spell we shall confer.

For through my dreams,I ask that you come and aid me.'

Concentrate on the problem or concern at hand that you would like to confer with the person about. Place the picture under your pillow. Let the candle burn to a stub, extinguish & place it in the bag of Lavender which has been mixed with a few drops of the oil. Sleep with these items under your pillow for three nights to receive the help requested via your dreams.

Spirit Oil Recipe

1 tablespoon dried orris root

1 tablespoon dried/crushed rosemary

1 tablespoon Solomon's seal

1 pinch of powdered jade or turquoise

3 drops sandalwood oil

3 drops mint oil

1/4 safflower oil

gemstones can be powdered by using a metal file

Mix all ingredients on the night of the new moon, store in a tightly

capped glass jar for until the next new moon (approx. 28 days).

Strain with a cheesecloth and use to anoint candles used during

conjuring, séances, protection, purification, exorcism or evocation

rituals.

"Okay," Ellie said after reading the spell out loud. "We need all of the stuff on this list. Do we really have to wait 28 days, or do you have this spirit oil stuff here?" she asked slightly worried now. Who knew that magick could be so much work? She had assumed that spells were just to make things easier.

"It so happens that we do...I believe we have almost everything you need here..." She began collecting up the items and soon had it all set to go. She also picked up a few extra items. "You will want to cast a protective circle before you attempt this. I believe you will find that on page 3 of that same book. I will even throw in everything you need here. And take my card, just in case you need any further assistance. Is there anything else I can help you with tonight?"

"Um... yeah. Do you guys teach this stuff to people," Ellie asked as she took the items. "How much?"

"I'm afraid we don't here, but take this card," Mme Annalise flipped through the drawer to find the one she was looking for. "Try giving her a call. You'll most likely need to leave a message, she's not often easy to catch at home. But I know that she does teach if she finds a student that is 'up to her standards'." She rung up the items and brought up the total. She looked at the kids and took off a 15 discount. It was the best she could do. "That'll be $51.68."

Ellie looked frantically through Sean's wallet, which was in her pocket since she was wearing his coat. She counted out 13.71 exactly. She looked nervously to Jimmy.

He held up his hand. If it would keep Ellie from trying to kill herself, it would be the least he could do. "I got it." He pulled out the credit card his father had given to him and handed it to the shop keep.

As soon as the purchse was made, they headed back to Ellie's apartment.

As they were climbing the stairs, though, he stopped and grabbed Ellie's arm.

There was something in the apartment.

Author's note: This chapter was by Chaos (as Marco, Jimmy, and Mme Annalise) and Serenity (as Ellie)


End file.
